We chat to Market Drayton's market manager, who after working her magic on Shrewsbury Market Hall for a number of years is now seeing her work here in Market Drayton recognised too.
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00:00So we're here in Market Drayton at the Market Hall. Kate Gittins, hello.
00:05Hello, hello on this very chilly day. It is a bit chilly isn't it today, yeah it is a bit cold.
00:11This is your project now, your baby, Market Drayton Market Hall. I know and it has been since
00:17April last year which is about eight months now. Well a lot of people will be familiar with the
00:23big market hall in Shrewsbury which was your previous. It was, yes, yes, yes. And Little
00:29Bird tells me there's a competition coming up that you're in the running for. Is it top 10
00:34mark? Well we're actually in the top 10 for Britain's favourite market and that's based on
00:40customers voting for the market. So obviously we've got a fantastic lot of customers who have
00:46been voting and voting and voting and by doing that obviously we are in the top 10 which is
00:53fantastic. That's awesome isn't it and it's Shrewsbury in there as well. It is,
00:56yeah. So that's a little bit of your legacy still. You're competing against your own legacy from
01:01beyond isn't it? I know, I know, such a surprise but lovely all the same. So this market is open
01:07when Kate? The indoor market is actually open on a Wednesday and a Saturday between nine and
01:15three but some obviously like the Butcher and the Deli open earlier in the day but and the street
01:21market is every Wednesday. Yeah, is that coming to your remit as well? Actually yes, the street
01:27market. Oh, I didn't realise that as well. Oh yes, definitely and that's included in the competition
01:34as well so it's both the indoor and the street. Yeah, yeah. But we also have an artisan market
01:39on the second Saturday of every month and that's expanded so from February onwards it's, as I say,
01:48on the second Saturday of every month and we hope to actually put some events in with that too to
01:54make it a much bigger event on that Saturday. And what sort of stuff is it? Will people see the
02:00artisan market then when those ones come around? You'll be talking craft-based stuff? Yes, much
02:05more craft-based and food-based but obviously that's something that we want to increase here
02:10as well and as part of the weekly offering. So what is it that's special about Market Drayton
02:16then? Well, as you can see for yourself, the indoor market is lovely. A lot of people describe
02:25it as cute but it is. It's small but it packs a punch. Yeah, is it a couple of favourite stalls?
02:31Should we have a walk around? Yes, by all means. What have we got then? Well, I wouldn't say I've
02:36got favourite stalls at all. You're not allowed to say that, are you? Yes, exactly. Is that a bit
02:40of haberdashery? It is. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, should we go and say hello? Yeah, by all means.
02:47They either run towards me or run away. Hello madam, just from the Shropshire Star.
02:52Just doing a little piece on the market. So describe your stall. A bit of everything
02:57going on here, isn't it? It isn't my stall, it's my niece's. Is it? Yeah, she's not here today.
03:03But everything, what we can get, we try and get for people. There's fabrics, there's walls,
03:08there's the ribbons and everything. Yeah, great stuff. Nice and colourful. Cool, thank you. Thank
03:15you. And then what have we got next door then? What's this? Sarah's Crafts. Hiya. Her nan looks
03:24after it when Sarah's not here. You draft the family in? Yeah. Sarah's Crafts, that's cool,
03:31some nice bunting. I know. I could do with some of that for my garden for the summer, to be fair.
03:35And Sarah's going to make all the bunting that we're going to replace the Christmas decoration.
03:40Ah, perfect. Yeah, that'll be good. Something I had hoped to talk to her about today, but I
03:45missed her again. Cool. And then what we've got, moving on there, we've got Shropshire Star.
03:54All right. Shropshire Star. So we've got some vinyl. Popular now, isn't it, the vinyl? Yeah,
04:02and the vintage stuff's really quite popular now. It is, with all the jackets. Yeah,
04:07some great clothes there. Look at that, straight out of Narnia. Bowler hat, that's,
04:15that's, I love, I like a bowler hat. I've got a bit of a thing for bowler hats. Have you really?
04:20Yeah, yeah. And the cravat. I know, yeah. So a classic bit of vintage. And then here we have
04:27Off The Peg, which is Frankie's school. Frankie's here at the moment, but she does lots of lovely,
04:34lovely clothes. Yeah, yeah. A few jumpers from here. Nice and colourful again. And scarves and
04:39things. Yeah. Just what you want at this time of year. Exactly. Yeah, and you've got everything
04:44really, haven't you? So you've got clothes, you've got gifts. And here we've got crystals and all
04:49that sort of thing. Yeah. It's another thing that seems to be quite popular now, doesn't it? That
04:53kind of, yeah, yeah. Very, very. Crystal side of things. We've got, um, wax creation. Yeah,
05:00wax melts and stuff. Yeah. So you've got everything you might expect in a market. We've
05:04got, if we look over there, we've got the butchers, cheese, bread rolls. Yeah, yeah. And, um, obviously
05:12outside here we've got Nick the Fish. Yeah. He comes every week. He used to be actually in the
05:18market. Yeah. But now has a mobile van. Yeah. And his fish is fantastic. Yeah, yeah. Um, and, um,
05:27so he's very much part of the market. Yeah. As well as the British bench opposite.
05:32And then, of course, there's the street.
05:37How are you guys? You all right? Good, thank you. Good stuff. How are you managing with this cold?
05:42Oh, we're warming up, we're warming up. Yeah, it's good for the fruit though, isn't it? Keeps
05:45it nice and fresh. Got the thermals on. Got the thermals on. Okay, that's it.
05:50So what have we got here then, Kate? What's this one? Well, here we've got, um, beautiful
05:54Greek puddings and Greek mains. Yeah. And I, my favourite, of course, is the, uh, the custard pie.
06:02Custard pie. Sounds good. Yeah. Well, it all looks grand. It is. That's for sure. And then
06:09the street market. How many stalls are involved in the street market normally, Kate? Well,
06:13on a lovely sunny day. Yeah. We can, we have as many as 26. But, obviously, today, um,
06:21it's not so many, because a lot of people are away on holiday. Yeah, yeah. They choose January
06:28to go away. And, also, some of the stallholders aren't feeling terribly well. Yeah, there's a
06:34nasty bug going around at the minute. Yes, exactly. But still, still a fair show there. Well, absolutely,
06:39absolutely. And we've got everything there. We've got, again, clothes, bedding.
06:44We're going, guys, just doing a bit of video for the Shropshire Star. Oh, yeah. How are you?
06:49Well, good, thanks. Yeah. It's a bit chilly today. I'll just take a few layers off. Oh, yeah.
06:54Yeah, but them coats are amazing, aren't they? Those, yeah, yeah. So, how's, um, how's business
07:00then here at Market Drayton? Yeah, good. We're looking, don't we? Yeah. Well, obviously, Kate's just been, um,
07:07Kate's just been singing your praises. Oh, bless her. So, yeah. Yeah, well, she works hard to keep it up.
07:13To keep, keep it up. Yeah, yeah, well, the store, yeah, it's all right for the first,
07:19we know it's going to be slow because, yeah, the market is always slow. Yeah. January, you know. Yeah, yeah.
07:25It's to be expected, but we've got our regulars coming back today, so it's great. Fantastic.
07:30It takes a little bit to get in the psyche, doesn't it? Of, right, we're back into that mode.
07:34The market's up again and, yeah, yeah. Cool. So, where are you guys actually from yourselves?
07:40We live in Womburn. Womburn, yeah, cool. Yeah, thank you.
07:45Yeah. Have you got a shop there? Market. Oh, market there as well? So, we do markets at Kingsman.
07:51Oh, fantastic. Yeah, yeah, awesome. So, how, how did you discover Market Drayton Market then?
07:58Um, how did we discover it? I don't know. Well, we knew about it. We knew about it. I can't remember.
08:05Kate was stalking us. Kate was, is this true, Kate? Is this true? Yes, as I hear it.
08:11To have a look, I think it was about April last year, and it was really quiet, wasn't it? Yeah.
08:15And then we thought, well, we'll come up again. We left it a few weeks, and then I got, got in touch
08:20with Kate. Yeah. So, come on, can we make, make the telly? Yeah. And we, like, what we saw, and we could
08:26see already, like, you know, um, it was growing and, you know, Kate was driving it. Yeah. And we liked the
08:33idea of that. So, we gave it six weeks, didn't we? Yeah. So, we'll try it. We'll come in in six weeks. Yeah.
08:39Yeah, yeah, so, so, yeah. And the, the, um, you know, the customers are saying that they're noticing
08:45the difference as well. We were speaking to people around the town just, um, last week, and they were
08:51saying about the things they liked about Market Drayton, and one of the things they kept, they
08:55kept coming up was the, the market, you know, and the market really seems to be getting, going from
09:00strength to strength. So, so hopefully that will show in your rattling of the coins. Well, you know, it
09:06benefits everybody, doesn't it really? If the market's successful, the crowd's successful, everybody, you know, the
09:11community benefits, everybody benefits. Yeah. We need the community to help us drive it as well.
09:17Yeah. Great stuff. Well, good luck with business in the new year. Thank you. Oh, that's a nice crowd,
09:22isn't it? Yeah, we do. Good stuff. The folks at Market Drayton are lovely. They're really lovely.
09:29Yeah, that's good. Everybody says that, and it's true! I mean, we have some lovely, um, like Christmas cards.
09:36I mean, we've had a business since June, and comments on things. Yeah, customers bringing you Christmas cards and stuff.
09:42Well, that's nice, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. So thanks for being here, and thanks for talking to us. Oh, that's great.