Leicester Mercury political correspondent
Market u-turn?
I’ve written several news stories on the proposed Walkers Stadium market in the past. Traders at the city’s main market were worried, understandably, that shoppers could spend their weekly budget on a Sunday and have little left over to spend during the week with them.
Fair point. But I like to play devils advocate while I’m investigating stories, so I once asked the city traders why they couldn’t simply work on a Sunday, too. A rival to the Walkers market, if you will.
The response was overwhelmingly negative. The majority said they didn’t like the idea. They deserved a day off after six days at work, they said. It was a fair point and I didn’t push it any further.
That’s why I was surprised to see Labour’s new candidate for New Parks and Leicester Market Traders vice-chair, backing council plans for Sunday trading there:
“The market is the jewel in Leicester’s crown and it is about time we treated it like that.
“The proposed redevelopment is long overdue, as is this plan to give our traders the chance to help create a much more vibrant and rounded shopping experience in the city on a Sunday.”
The council staged Sunday markets in the city centre in the mid-1990s but the experiment failed.
Presumably traders have changed their minds since I last spoke to them six months ago.
Let me know what you know on davidmaclean@leicestermercury.co.uk
about 1 year ago
Another question is whether the Sunday opening is aimed at the existing traders, or, in light of the recent successful food and crafts fairs, at a different ‘market’ with different sorts of traders. I bit of diversification in it’s offering would be good for the institution and would also allow the regulars their day off.