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Another downbeat story from the locality, this time indicating that the future of Arnold's outdoor market is under pressure.

Shoppers in Arnold warned market could close without their support

I've a mixed view about traditional outdoor markets generally. It's clear to see from visiting towns such as Hucknall, Mansfield and Newark and observing the shrinking amount of stalls that their popularity has waned. There are doubtless many and varied reasons for this, including the oft-cited huge competition from supermarkets for custom. Some will say that 'progress' must happen and maybe they're correct, I don't know. I actually think though that Arnold's market in the past has been a good example of how these places can flourish and offer local people a good service.

Working locally a little while ago at a local school for kids with special needs, I'd often help take the youngsters on an educational shopping trip to Arnold Market and would enjoy the visits myself - especially to the second-hand book stall where I bought several good reads for a very modest price. In the years before that there was a fresh fish stall which sold fresh produce from the likes of Grimsby, so I understand.

Arnold Market has an enviable position right in the centre of the town. On market days it gives the town a 'heart'. In the years before it's existence the old British School stood in the same place, a school that I attended in it's last year of opening before closure and demolition.

It seems clear, notwithstanding the lessening popularity of outdoor markets, that a big factor in Arnold Market's comparatively recent demise is that of the car parking charges now in operation in the town. Simply put it's easier and cheaper to park at a supermarket. It may not be the sole reason but for the sake of keeping a decent little market going, it may well prove to be the last straw. Of course the town's market is only one example of the gradual deterioration that is affecting Arnold. It's sad to see what is happening to what was a decent and friendly little town and formerly village.

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This is very sad.

I lived in Calverton at one time and loved to go into Arnold to the shops and market.

Most people from out of Arnold would go on the bus, though, rather than drive. So the carparking charge would be an issue.

(Going back thirty years though)

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The car parking charge certainly hasn't helped but also Bulwell and Snienton have suffered over the years. Apparently there used to be long waiting lists to become a stall holder, now there are many empty spaces. Pooh bear has been on the markets whats your opinion Pooh? I was talking to a chap recently who used to sell jewellery on Thoresby market and could make £500 on a Sunday but now Thoresby is half empty.

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Very similar scenario with Bingham market...

Revived 30 years ago, having been lapsed since Edwardian times, patronage has progressively dwindled until there are now just a handful of stalls. Our car parking issue is not one of cost, but of availabilty, with the daily ensuing chaos.

Certainly the fickle buying public (myself included) will usually prefer the supermarket 'convenience'.

Personally, despite all my empty time, my preferred shop is late Friday at a Morrison's - when I am often one of only a dozen other punters - late food bargains to be had, too!

Reckon the immense growth of online/delivery shopping is also a further nail in the local market's coffin.

Cheers

Robt P.

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it is so sad that the market has given way to retail park shopping. There is a new generation who will never see a market. My first teaching post was in Bury, famed for its market, and like you Stu , took many children to visit. I am going to Chesterfield market on Saturday( never been ) but my favourite has to be Cambridge in St Marys square.

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The car parking charge certainly hasn't helped but also Bulwell and Snienton have suffered over the years. Apparently there used to be long waiting lists to become a stall holder, now there are many empty spaces. Pooh bear has been on the markets whats your opinion Pooh? I was talking to a chap recently who used to sell jewellery on Thoresby market and could make £500 on a Sunday but now Thoresby is half empty.

The Sunday markets have died a death thanks to Sunday trading.A few years back there was nothing else to do except go to a market...now everywhere is open.Although I agreed with pubs being open all day Sundays (but not all night) especially in tourist areas....pubs shutting at 2pm was just ridiculous.

I've seen Arnold market go gradually downhill,as have all the markets over the last five years.It used to be a case of having your name down for years to get on them in the first place...not any more.

The reasons? Supermarket shopping of course,and greater use of the motor car.People have got lazy and don't want to walk round markets when they can park just yards away from a supermarkets door.

Pedestrianisation...once again as above people just don't want to walk to shop.

But one of the main reasons for the markets demise is the credit card...something nobody seems to consider.Markets have always been cash,except for a few traders with credit facilities such as those selling expensive leather coats and the like.So for the last few years most customers are amongst the elderly and the broke.

The biggest shock has been Sneinton...one of the busiest markets in the country.I tried it just over a year ago knowing it was dead,because the fruit and veg man has stuck it out.I figured if he was doing well...and he is...then natural overspill would provide trade for the rest of us.People queued up for their veg. but rarely even looked at other stalls...so I packed it in.Some days only taking £30/£40

Sneinton on a Saturday,Spring last year...A handful of traders and junk stalls.It certainly doesn't help when scumbags in yellow jackets pounced on anybody who parked to shop.Plenty of parking space for shoppers...but yellow lines everywhere...bloody council.

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Sneinton in it's heyday...

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I'm starting up again next week...not expecting to make much,but I can't manage on a pension.So I'm hoping at least to make a bit to keep me ticking over...wish me luck.

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That last picture is how I remember it, being dragged around by Mum on a Saturday.

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Its all very sad. I remember that market being packed, and not too long either.

Remember the guy who used to smash the plates down on the Tea Chest without breaking it.

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I was brought up not too far from the market, used to play in the park near it on Bath Street.

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it is so sad that the market has given way to retail park shopping. There is a new generation who will never see a market. My first teaching post was in Bury, famed for its market, and like you Stu , took many children to visit. I am going to Chesterfield market on Saturday( never been ) but my favourite has to be Cambridge in St Marys square.

Hope you have a nice visit to Chesterfield market, Chrissie. In the little back lanes immediately adjacent to the east of the main market there is a fantastic little pub nestled there, can't remember the name but it's really worth popping your head around the door.

Pooh - it's interesting to hear your views, I wish you well with your venture back into marketing.

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Another of the problems is the fact that a lot of the visitors to these Car Boot Sales are you ethnics who won't pay for 'owt if they can get away with it.

I too used to work Thoresby way back at the beginning of the 90's when doing sales for the RAC and it was a fantastic place to make money (I was on 25% commision so if I sold a £100 membership package I (Obviously ) trousered £25, and Thoresby was the place to do it. My best day ever was there , I sold 25 memberships at £100 ,15 at £59, and 4 at £49. Not bad for 4 hours work!!!

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Funny you should mention that I nearly put that in my post.

On boots such as Calverton I would imagine over half the punters are foreigners...to hell with ethnics...they're foreigners to me.

They don't spend like the English but they do spend something.The Poles particularly like their sweets.They come from countries where markets are still a way of life,not like here in Tescoland.

It amuses me to here their gabbling away in a foreign lingo...and the odd walking pillar box with their bearded males in jim jams.

Sneinton was the same,hardly any English people.

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Sad to hear about Arnold market - unfortunately, Long Eaton market went the same way several years ago - and it was once a thriving Thursday-Saturday market packed with stalls and people.

While we were in Youlgreave at the beginning of July, we went to Bakewell market (Mondays) and I was very pleased to discover a very thriving market complete with several fruit/veg stalls, meat, fish, poultry, fresh pies, books, CDs/DVDs and the usual cheap watches, etc. Despite the fact that it was raining - and it was Monday, the market seemed to be doing a thriving business so perhaps all is not lost.

After seeing that, and the demise of Long Eaton market, I wonder if it is more to do with the "mentality" of the local population. Folks living in a rural area are more "in tune" with the countryside, fresh food, etc. The "city" dwellers may no longer even know how to properly prepare fresh vegetables, or how to cook fish. This was also evident by the number of thriving allotments I noticed around Youlgreave - everybody that lived there must have an allotment judging by the number of them - and most were showing healthy crops of various produce!

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Couple of years ago, we were driving through the Cotswolds area and came upon a large market in Chipping Norton, I do believe. It was peeing down with rain but a busy market nevertheless. I didn't realise though, until this thread, that markets are dying out.

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After seeing that, and the demise of Long Eaton market, I wonder if it is more to do with the "mentality" of the local population. Folks living in a rural area are more "in tune" with the countryside, fresh food, etc. The "city" dwellers may no longer even know how to properly prepare fresh vegetables, or how to cook fish. This was also evident by the number of thriving allotments I noticed around Youlgreave - everybody that lived there must have an allotment judging by the number of them - and most were showing healthy crops of various produce!

Interesting points, Eric. Ironically what does appear to be on the increase are 'farmer's markets' and also farm shops, where it's possible to acquire local (and sometimes not-so-local!) fresh produce. Near here, the farms shops on Spring Lane near Lambley and at Gonalston are good examples of what appear to be thriving businesses that offer something a little different from the supermarket. (Indeed at Gonalston there is a farm that sells variety packs of meat which are very good value and raised locally.) There does seem to be a small yet significant and burgeoning trend of people who want something different from what Sainsbury's or Tesco dictate. Perhaps it's up to the normal outdoor markets to move with the times and latch onto these tastes? The markets have changed little in their produce and goods over the years whilst customer tastes have evolved.

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Talking of good markets around this area which may still be there (or not), when I was a kid in the 1960s we often used to go to Loughborough market on a Thursday afternoon. That was a great place and always busy with a nice atmosphere.

I'm pretty certain it still exists, but I haven't been for quite a few years and don't know if it is still successful, or has it gone downhill like the others mentioned

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Leicester and Loughboro' markets not bad because they are frequented by a population that not so long ago was in New Delhi.

Hucknall/Sutton in Ashfield/Heanor/Ripley...loads of empty stalls.Shirebrook and Chesterfield not bad.Newark/Retford/Bingham half empty.

Clifton not bad...Hyson Green busy because there's no competition from the big boys apart from Asda....Sneinton dead.Bolsover dead,and South Normanton.

As for markets catching up to modern times ...with what? Cheese/cooked meats, no way thanks to 'Elf & Safety' The only time they are tolerated without up to date refrigeration is on the German and Continental markets when the powers that be turn a blind eye.The rest of the stalls are hammered to death by the likes of Wilkos/Matalan/Primark, and the Pound Shops.

Farmers markets... a joke...A few proper stalls of local produce filled out by stalls flogging the same old crap as Tescos,the market managers turning a blind eye because they want the rents....but they sound posh.

Farm shops..The one on Spring lane has a few veg lines sourced locally...the meat is good but expensive.The bread looks good...but like supermarket bread made with high speed yeasts leaves a lot to be desired in the taste department.And the jam and chutney comes in pretty jars that are cheaper in Harrods.But no matter up there because most of their customers are the rich types from Lambley,Woodborough and district.The local Budgens supermarket caters for these people too, with higher prices than your local Asian shop.I wouldn't so much as call it a farm shop as a shop that has avoided planning restrictions by being built,and then extended,on a farm.

Rant over...:rolleyes:

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  • 5 years later...

How can they do that! . . I go to arny market quite often and even though I wouldn't say its always packed . . I can say its always got more than a good few folk there. . I know this cos they always get in my way haha int it amazing how the crowds always seem to go in the opposite direction to you. . if a shop only has a handful of customers a day the same wouldn't be said. . its not as if there are much in the way of overheads to consider... .or probably anything else they would rather do with the land on a weds night so why don't they just leave the goddam market alone. . so much in Nottingham has been shut down over the recent years. . leave us with this please...

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Well...a few years on and I'm long retired.The markets have continued to decline.Some traders hanging on by the skin of their teeth. I don't particularly rate most of the veg mens stuff on markets.But the supermarkets of course get the pick of the crop....and the best prices,the little man can't compete.

The pound and cheapo shops in particular have taken all the bargain lines that were the bread and butter of the markets...the stock just isn't there to buy any more.

My local market at Sutton in Ashfield is now a car park...but they have moved some stalls into the center of Sutton surrounded by banks,estate agents and Wilkos which in fact is a busier place for them.

Remember that heavy snow a few years back...I retired a month before...best move I've ever made :biggrin:

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I see that Bulwell & Clifton markets are getting a £1m shared between them to try & give the markets a boost.

A reduction in council tax might help shops in the area.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/two-nottingham-towns-to-receive-share-of-1m-to-revitalise-markets/story-29463072-detail/story.html

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Too late.....they can chuck money at 'em as much as they like It won't work....the days of the little man have long gone. All small traders can do is nibble at the edges of the mega profits made by the big boys.

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