Page 27 - Market Times April 2024

MARKET TIMES • APRIL 2024 27
England’s smallest town
digs deep to save its market
LOCAL people living in and around the mid-Devon town of Hatherleigh have fol- lowed their hearts and dug into their pockets to save their much-loved market.
Once a bustling cattle market that attracted people from near and far every Monday and Thursday, Hatherleigh introduced a very popular Tuesday auction and general market following the foot and mouth epidemic more than 20 years ago.
Held in a large building in the centre of town, the auction and market became a community hub and meeting place in a rural county where isolation and loneliness can be an issue.
But in 2018 everything changed when a developer got the go-ahead for plans to demolish the market building to make way for more than 100 new homes, granted on condition that the company made provision for a market on the site.
Farmer’s wife Debbie Kimber, who used to work for the livestock market, took over the running of the auction and market with her husband, and when the building was knocked down the couple invested in a marquee to keep the show on the road.
“We have had quite a few challenges along the way,” Debbie said. One crisis occurred when the marquee blew away in Storm Alwyn a couple of years ago. Fortunately, the community centre stepped into the breach and Debbie has managed to keep the auction and market going in and around the community centre every Tuesday.
Meanwhile Debbie set about trying to raise
The old venue, once the cattle market, was demolished to make way for new homes
The market is in the community centre until the new building is ready
£100,000 needed for a new market. A group called Friends of Hatherleigh Market was formed and an appeal went out to local people to pledge their own money towards the cost.
Amazingly, a total £62,000 has been pledged to date towards the £100,000 needed to apply for a grant from the Community Ownership Fund, part of the Government’s Levelling Up initiative. The application, supported by the town council, West Devon Borough Council, Business
Information Point in Okehampton and the Plunkett Foundation, is for match funding to buy the new market outright.
“It is not just people in Hatherleigh who have supported the campaign, but people from all around,” Debbie said. “They really value the market and the auction. It is somewhere for people to meet and they look forward to coming to market every Tuesday.”
Debbie said traders sold everything from meat, cheese and vegetables to household goods, and the auction was a big attraction, with anything and everything going under the hammer.
“The most unusual lot we had was probably a Cold War air raid siren, but we auction anything people care to bring in,” she said.
The new market building is nearing completion in the same location as the old livestock building, and Debbie hopes the market and auction will move to its new home in May.
The new pannier market has glass sides and incorporates a market operator’s office, toilets, an external power ring for a paved outdoor square and infrastructure for electrical vehicle charging.
“Local people have shown that they really value the market and we hope to raise the rest of the money and keep the market and auction a vibrant and popular event,” she said.
Last November the town council voted to underwrite the project and take on a five-year lease, which means the money can be raised over time if necessary.
Photos by Royston “Stone” Naylor