BBC Radio Oxford hosted a cost-of-living clinic at the Monday Market in Abingdon today. The clinic brought together several local organizations, including Citizens Advice, the Abingdon Foodbank, Abingdon Larder, and Abingdon Community Fridge.
People from BBC Radio Oxford were also there with a survey to gather information about the impact of the rising cost of living on local residents. BBC Radio Oxford are taking this roadshow around Oxfordshire and inviting local groups in each town or part of Oxford.
Also on the Market Place is a Wimbledon-themed postbox topper with tennis rackets, a ball, and strawberries. The famous tennis tournament is currently about halfway. It began on Monday, July 3, and ends on Sunday, July 16.
Strawberries, a Wimbledon staple, were on sale at the fruit and veg stall at the Monday Market.
Such a shame that these events are held on weekdays when the majority of people are unable to attend.
If your town centre is dying, have the markets when people are actually able to use them!
Looks busy to me! Albeit only monthly, the local excellence fair is always on a Saturday and is usually a good way to spend a morning/afternoon.
The excellence fair is a con.. not many local stalls and they always have the same tat. The town has no butchers so perfect opportunity to have a market with fruit, veg and meat but at a day when not only the retirees can go to it
The stalls at the local excellence markets are pretty local and diverse. Of the 77 traders taking part so far this year (not all at once!), this is how far they travel – Within Abingdon x 39, less than 5 miles x 17, 5-10 miles x 11, 10-30 miles x 8, 30+ miles x 2.
Yes, some stalls come every time (clearly popular and doing enough trade), but with different products, sometimes specific to Abingdon, like the bun throwing. There are also new ones, such as the new bread stall, which is great.
While I don’t have metrics anytime I am there it is comprised of a burger stall who leave their uncooked meat sitting out sweating in the sun, about 5 honey stalls, about 2 chilli stalls, 2-3 overpriced photography stalls and random knitted/crafted tat.
Not a real draw to pull me in to visit when I could just get my shopping done in fairacres/tesco
Luckily for the town and the traders nobody else would recognise your description, hence why it is always so busy.
i’ve always thought the same way about shops in general. open when people are at work, shut just as they are leaving work.
This exchange is getting confused! There are three regular markets in Abingdon:
Weekly Monday market – range of stalls covering all the basics, meat, fish, fruit and veg, bread, plants and household bits and pieces. Excellent prices and often better quality than the supermarkets and Fairacres. (Yes, it is unfortunate that isn’t available to those working on Mondays – but the traders need to earn a living by having regular events and I doubt if people would be happy if the Market Place was never available for anything else on a Saturday.)
Monthly Farmers’ market: 3rd Friday, mainly food and drink. Good quality, not aiming to compete on price with supermarket chains, but some is very good value. Organised by Thames Valley Farmers Markets Co-operative who have a regular monthly schedule – Saturdays and Sundays are already allocated elsewhere, although when there is a 5th Saturday in the month, some of them join the…
Local Excellence Markets: 6 times a year, on Saturdays. Set up 10 years ago in response to demand for Saturday markets. As Kelly says, wide range of stalls, all fairly local, some regulars, some occasional, so a variety. Food, drink, household items and decorative stuff – again, not aiming to compete on price with the chains, but to offer variety and quality.
Understood a local market can’t compete with a supermarket on price, but supermarkets ALSO have the unfair and additional advantage of copious free parking = convenience.
Perhaps a healthy compromise would be that on market days, there is free parking (max 4 hrs) in Queen St, all the on street bays, bath street, stert street, E&W St Helens streets, behind Pablo’s etc etc….? Thus making using ‘Abingdon’ convenient?
Never happen of course. Cars are bad. Booo cars. Nasty cars….