THE future of Holsworthy pannier market was the subject of a meeting in the Market Hall on Wednesday, June 8, which was attended by town councillors, stallholders, representatives of businesses in the town and members of the public, writes Christine Williams.

Chairing his first public meeting since becoming mayor, Cllr Jon Hutchings said the town council had made no decisions and invited everyone to join in a discussion to answer the question ‘Where do we go from here?’

Representing the stallholders, Dan Garnett said he had traded in Holsworthy for 21 years and that while other markets were booming, trade in Holsworthy had declined to a point where on a bad day he would only sell from his fish stall a third of what he used to sell.

Representing the shopkeepers, Steve Ford, manager of Woolacotts, said ten years ago Wednesday was their busiest day — now it is their quietest.

Steve felt things were worse since the cattle market had moved to its new site. Holsworthy was a unique place and he would hate to see the market close.

Steven Anderson, of DTS, said there should be free parking in the Manor car park on a Wednesday, even if it was for just half an hour.

District Councillor Ian Parker said that Torridge District Council (TDC) relied on the income from the car park, but Dan Garnett said supermarkets had free parking so TDC should grasp the nettle and allow it.

Town clerk, Vanessa Saunders, said that 70% of people shopping in the town were not from Holsworthy and it would appear that the many newcomers moving into the new housing did not shop in Holsworthy. The town was growing but trade wasn’t.

Cllr Pat Smith said the number of stalls had dropped considerably and there was a £1,800 deficit in the market running costs.

Key stalls such as a cake stall were missing and they needed another five stalls. The town had lost a range of facilities such as a jeweller’s, shoe shop, hardware store and needed a business plan.

Former mayor, Cllr John Allen, said they needed to go out and sell the town and incentivise traders from other markets to come to Holsworthy.

Other suggestions were that they should more clearly define the market opening hours, that the lines marking parking spaces in the centre of the Square should be repainted at an angle and the position of the stalls should be changed.

Cllr Lyndon Piper felt the meeting was a good start and along with Dan Garnett agreed that an action group was needed to create a vision, a brand for the town. They must convince people to come to the town and take a risk. Times had passed when farmers’ wives came to shop in town on a Wednesday. ‘We must find out who are clients are’, he said and tap into the growing tourism in Bude.

Mr Garnett said local people didn’t have a high opinion of the market and couldn’t see the point in coming.

Many stalls replicated what was on sale in the shops yet there was no sports shop or sports stall in the town. They should decide what sort of stalls they wanted and grant newcomers two weeks rent free to get established.

Former mayor, Richard Brown, said they needed to do some vigorous pushing to get people to use the market. A market town without a market would be a sad place.

It was agreed they needed to work together and form an action group to rescue the market. The next issue of the ‘town newsletter’ would be used to publicise the market.

After an hour’s discussion the mayor closed the meeting saying he was pleased with the positive attitude shown and that after people’s comments had been mulled over, the stall holders and shops would be contacted within about two weeks and a public meeting would be called to try to resolve the issues raised.