Page 23 - Market Times April 2024

FEATURE • ALLY PALLY 23 Ally Pally is bringing fine fare from
the country
into the capital
Alexandra Palace and its TV transmitter
More than 20 years after it first set up stall in the leafy park sur- rounding North London’s iconic Alexandra Palace, the award-winning Ally Pally Farmers Market is still going strong. Nicola Gould visits a market that has done well by sticking to its founding ethos of bring- ing the finest affordable, fresh produce to the local market
London’s iconic Alexandra Palace has been the scene of much drama over more than 150 years, from two dev- astating fires to the very first BBC broad- cast back in the 1930s — a world first.
But locals are more interested in the main event every Sunday — Ally Pally Farmers Market which sets up stall at the Muswell Hill entrance to the park that surrounds the palace.
Launched in 2003 by Chris Elder, a baker and foodie who had started a small market in Bromley where he lived, the market took a couple of years to catch the imagination of the public.
Lawrence Chirita, who is head of opera- tions for City and Country Farmers Mar- kets, said: “The very first farmers market that Chris started was at Dulwich College in 2002. A year later he started Ally Pally and it took a little time to grow.
“We started with about 30 stalls, mainly farmers selling their fresh produce. After a few years the number of traders had grown to 40 or 50, and these days we have more than 70 stalls including farmers and fresh
produce of all kinds, with some hot food and quite a few craft stalls.”
These days the operator runs six markets in London, four on Saturdays and two on Sunday, and Ally Pally is one of the favourites.
Lawrence said the markets had stayed faithful to Chris’s founding principles which centre on local produce for local people, with affordability, provenance and quality all key.
The rules for traders to stand the market are strict, with producers and makers needing to travel from within a 100-mile radius of the market, although one Brecon trader was given the green light because of the quality of his meat and Welsh products.
Lawrence said there was a tasting panel to ensure all the food was the right stan- dard and the team likes to retain a balance, so that there is a certain amount of healthy competition for fruit and veg, for example. But a limited number of the same line ensures that individual traders can sell enough to make their journey to market worthwhile.
So who shops at Ally Pally and who are the traders who stand the market?
Lawrence says locals love the market and it tends to attract Londoners from up to five miles away, all wanting to get the best fresh produce, meat and fish, enjoy
Lawrence Chirita is head of operations for City and Country Farmers Markets, the family-run business that operates six farmers markets in London
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