Bassetlaw District Council needed to relocate Worksop’s fixed-stall Open Market to free up the site for a key use in its town centre regeneration plan. The relocation and move from fixed stalls to demountable daystalls on a public highway was also an opportunity to boost footfall on a secondary retail street. But it required a complete change to management methods as ‘vans-on’ would no longer be possible. A one-stop consultancy was agreed – design, public consultation, new trading licences and a Road Traffic Agreement secured from the Highways Authority.

Shopkeepers were understandably concerned that stalls might obstruct their shopfronts as was the Civic Society at any alterations to trees and planters. Numerous surveys and draft layouts were undertaken and the final layout left both unaffected with stalls presenting their frontages to shops across the pavements but allowing pedestrian crossover breaks. The layout avoided ATM’s and preserved entrances to service alleys and maintained a through route for emergency vehicles – always a difficult issue for Street Markets.

The final layout was agreed after staging trial layouts on Sunday mornings. An adjacent empty shop was acquired for a management office and Traders WC’s and the demountable stalls are now stored on trailers parked in its rear service yard.

Relocation has proved very successful – footfall and stall occupancy have increased and adjacent shopkeepers report much higher levels of trade, especially on Market days. The project has proved very successful in return for such a modest investment.