Move the market back on the
streets, says councillor

by REX NEEDLE


The street market in 1980 showing far fewer stalls than some people remember

In the spring of 2006, Bourne Town Council met to consider a proposal that the weekly market be moved back on to the streets.

The purpose built area in front of the Corn Exchange has been the market venue since December 1990 and the campaign to move it was led by Councillor Shirley Cliffe who wanted it re-established in North Street and West Street on one day a week. “We used to have 87 stalls in the street market in the old days and people driving into town would stop when they saw it”, she told members of the amenities committee when it met on Tuesday 9th May to consider the proposals.

Eighty-seven stalls is difficult to justify at a time when the population was around half of what it is today and even if they ranged along the kerbsides of both West Street and North Street they would have extended well out of town in both directions. Many thought that 20-30 was nearer the mark, perhaps even less, as proven by archive photographs of the town, and as there are more than 20 stalls operating at the Thursday market at the new location most weeks, it is difficult to find evidence that the enterprise is dying completely, as Councillor Cliffe had suggested.

Vivid memories of a massive street market in Bourne continued to be aired but the evidence failed to support descriptions of so many stalls ranged along the kerbside in North Street and West Street and the pavements thronged with shoppers. There was always a busy market in the town but never on the scale of that envisaged by some, the memory playing tricks over time, and we have to look to photographs and first hand accounts to arrive at the truth.

My own knowledge of Bourne goes back 50 years, the latter half of that time as a resident, but I have no impressions of such a large street market and can find no evidence for it, even after checking my extensive photographic archive of past times. Without seeing the stall rental records at council headquarters in Grantham, if they still exist, I suppose we will never know the exact figures, but it is worth considering the opinion of one man who does have inside knowledge and that is Trevor Pool whose father John Pool was the Collector of Tolls at the market for almost a quarter of a century (1921-45).

Trevor, now aged 80, and living in retirement at Halifax in West Yorkshire, often helped his father and he emailed recently to say that there were never the large amount of stalls that has been suggested and he has sent these evocative memories of the market to support his view:

The market had its best years before beginning to decline during the years of the Second World War from 1939-45 and I don't think it ever got back to its former state. The Thursday market had an early morning start and all the stalls were cleared away by early afternoon. There were about sixteen stalls in total on a Thursday, maximum, with two on the north side of West Street, then the household auction goods up the corner, then the pens of rabbits and hens and other small livestock. Then going out into the road was an area for fruit and vegetables and all these goods were auctioned off sometime during the day. At the edge of the auction area and nearly in the middle of the market place was a stall selling seeds of all types to farmers and the general public.

Going along North Street, on the west side, were perhaps three stalls up to the Angel Hotel entrance then a further three stalls up to Ewles the butchers. On the east side of the market place going north from the Bull Hotel entrance to Lloyds Bank was Braime’s fish stall, Briggs the butcher and one other. Going south from the Bull entrance was a stall selling footwear, then a sweet stall and one or two others but a clear gap had to be left so that the fire engine, which was kept underneath the town hall, could get out if needed.

Sometimes there would be what was called a pitcher who would spread a sheet on the floor and sell from that and on some occasions, a flat back wagon would park on the south side of West Street and sell fruit from the back, a “buy two and get one free” style of selling. Saturday was an afternoon and evening market, no auction of goods or livestock or fish stall. There was a different sweet stall [Joe Sharp] which was on the north side of the Angel and I remember that there were fewer stalls on a Saturday than on a Thursday.

Trevor Pool’s memories were supported by David Tabor, former Bourne shopkeeper and churchwarden, whose family have been associated with the town for 150 years. He emailed to say:

I can add a few further details to those you have and from Trevor Pool. My maternal grandfather, George Spencer, took over as collector of market tolls and erector of stalls from John Pool. He carried out these duties for about ten years and was employed by the then owners of the market rights, the Marquess of Exeter, and his duties at that time also included the collection of rents from the row of cottages in Burghley Street which the estate owned at that time.

My father carried out these duties after my grandfather retired and when they came under the jurisdiction of the then Bourne Urban District Council. The memories of Trevor Pool about the auction site on the market are similar to my own but I am able to add a little more detail about some of the other stalls. At this time the Bull Hotel (now the Burghley Arms) still retained a wide carriageway where the main entrance door is now. Through this archway, the wooden market stalls were stored at the side of the roadway that led to the cattle market and to the corn merchant's office and an agricultural implement merchant. After the closing of this archway in the refurbishment of the Burghley Arms, the stalls were stored in rooms behind the Town Hall that are now part of South Kesteven District Council’s rear offices.

The stalls I recall on the west side of North Street outside the Midland Bank [now HSBC] were Mr Exton's fish stall followed by two stalls of underwear and clothing run by Mr Baxter who lived in the Austerby. After the Angel Hotel entrance, two stalls where run by Mrs Hall selling dress-making and curtain materials, a fruit stall with Mr Gillings from Surfleet, a mobile shop from Bratley's of Spalding for Calor Gas appliances, an occasional table top stall which took us to the edge of the electricity board showrooms before Wherry's Lane. On the east side was a fish stall run by Braime’s of Boston and the footwear stall run by Mr Matthews who had also a shoe shop in Spalding. My memory is of three stalls on the south side of West Street, roughly centred about the property now occupied by Eckfords, the estate agents. On the north side of West Street, after the auction site of household objects etc, came a large fruit stall manned by Bill Pauley and perhaps five further stalls finishing outside the Crown Hotel before the entrance to Morton's printers, which now is Fovia, the stationers. Occasionally there were an extra two table top stalls beyond that entrance.

So there we have it, a much smaller market than most recall. Faulty memory syndrome often plays tricks with these cherished recollections of times gone by, never more manifest than in reminiscing about the good old days, which they rarely were, or the long hot summers of our childhood that certainly had their fair share of bad weather. A picture postcard view of a bustling street market with the pavements of the town centre lined with stalls and thronging with people may be the stuff of memory but reality was most probably very different, especially when the population of Bourne was considerably less than it is today (the 1981 census figure was 8,142) and would by no stretch of the imagination support 70 to 100 stalls as has been suggested.

Furthermore, there was insufficient evidence to substantiate fears that the market on the new site may be failing because there was a regular attendance of more than 20 stalls during the summer of 2006 and all were doing brisk business. A proposed relocation to West Street had everything against it, not least the fact that many of the councillors discussing it were those who supported the move in the first place, following a similar decision at Market Deeping some years before. Furthermore, few of the traders appeared to support such an upheaval and were perfectly happy where they were. Stalls at the kerbside are inconvenient and leave only a cramped space for shoppers. It can also be hazardous and we should not forget that the final straw which prompted the change of venue fifteen years ago came when a lady shopper was hit by a passing lorry in North Street.

There is no doubt that the market has been declining as the result of changing times but it is not yet terminal. Stallholders are facing stiff competition from the big shed retail companies that provide shoppers with a wider range of goods, usually at lower prices, at any time of the week and the chance to park easily. The competition is fierce and only those well established street markets that are a pleasure to visit as well as being an excellent sales outlet with bargain prices are likely to survive. Moving Bourne’s market back on to the streets may replicate a picture postcard view of yesteryear but it will be far less convenient and will certainly not persuade people to buy more.

Town councillors agreed to test public opinion about the proposal, using letters to the local newspapers as a barometer, and agreed to meet later in the year to decide whether to start negotiations for a move with South Kesteven District Council although because of a possible road closure in West Street, a final decision would rest with Lincolnshire County Council, the highways authority.

But by the autumn, a headline in The Local newspaper (September 22nd) said it all: “Market move shelved” over a report that Bourne Town Council had decided not to press ahead with the possibility of moving the stalls back on to the streets.

By all means we should remember the old days and a picture postcard idea of a street market does have a nostalgic appeal but it would be quite impractical today and the town council has made the right decision to drop the idea of stalls on the streets which should remain the stuff of memory.

REVISED SEPTEMBER 2006

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