howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#1
This time last year it was booming but only about 6 stalls out this morning.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#2
The bread man is there every Tuesday and Saturday come rain or shine.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#3
That is what happens when it is "closed" for the Winter some will go and find a pitch elsewhere, it was a very negative idea.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 1694- Registered: 24 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,087
#4
Jan, it was 'closed' for the winter because there were insufficient takers of slots over the months Jan-Apr. Town Team last year provided indoor facilities to keep it going through the winter, but traders didn't make enough and I got the impression that there was insufficient interest from the traders to cover Town Team costs and provide indoor facilities this winter just gone. Slots were offered to traders on Tuesdays throughout the winter months Jan-Apr free of charge if they had their own stalls and there was a small uptake on this opportunity throughout the winter, so the market didn't close per se, just Town Team didn't put up the Town Team stalls.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#5
I can remember when they tried to get a market going at the old coke tip off Bunkers Hill Road, nice and busy when it started but that gradually dwindled away much like the present one.
Markets used to be the place to buy cheap items now there are pound shops that fill that slot. I believe farmers markets are the only real way forward, I know I will not bother traipsing all the way down to Market Square for our little effort..
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#6
I don't think a farmers market would be feasible in Dover, we have Farthingloe farm and the one in Capel that a lot of Dover people use.
I think there used to be one at River village hall at one time.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#7
And there's one once a week in Whitfield village hall.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 782- Registered: 4 Oct 2012
- Posts: 357
#8
If the market does close, it will be because the people of Dover did not support it and the traders could therefore not make it worth their while.
Unless the populous of this town start looking after the people who genuinely try to provide amenity, then the people who are putting in the effort will simply not bother.
The new market manager does have an uphill task, but he is working hard and the Town Team members continue to support the ideal of providing a decent market. Apathy and negativity breed nothing but misery and resentment as of course many of our Councillors will understand.
Whatever the process has been, Dover is on the cusp of good things and the Market should be part of it. Look at the Market Square/King Street area now that the cafés and bars are reinventing themselves, it is starting to be a nice place to be. Big TV gone, Market Street wall painted, everything let or agreed to be let. There is plenty to go to the. Market Square for, so please traders and customers alike keep it going it will be worth it in the end
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#9
Market manager?
Seems that Roger was right all along on the need for one.
Guest 782- Registered: 4 Oct 2012
- Posts: 357
#10
As opposed to Town Centre Manager! A slip though on my part, he is the Market Coordinator. Semantics I guess!
Guest 697- Registered: 13 Apr 2010
- Posts: 622
#11
Well said, Simon. There is a indeed a great deal to be positive about with new investments in the town centre and wider district starting to take effect. A positive attitude is the tonic that Dover needs. As they say, "use it or lose it!"
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#12
At the risk of being called negative people will only use the market if they sell the kind of things that people want.
I need a very good reason to go as far as the Market Square, the fudge man and fish stall were the only stalls that sold anything I wanted after the fish stall went I could see no reason trudge that far.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#13
I remember reading on here soon after the market had settled down how the traders were happy with trade and returns, now we hear they are not.
Is it Dover apathy or traders not offering merchandise that people want to buy?
Guest 782- Registered: 4 Oct 2012
- Posts: 357
#14
It is a great sadness that Sue and her mum did not continue even though they did very well. Let's just hope Jan that we have more people who will go as far as the market square otherwise DTIZ stands no chance, never mind the market!!
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
#15
It's lack of footfall in the town centre generally. There's no single cause. It's a combination of parking charges, out-of-town developments, an extremely elongated shopping area which puts off older people and those of impaired mobility, and the fact that for every shop which has something you might want to buy, there's a pawnbroker, a betting shop, two charity shops and two estate agents (sorry, Simon!). Additionally, only a few buses pass through the market square nowadays. Then, for people who live in the villages, Canterbury, Deal, Westwood and Folkestone offer a better shopping experience for an extra ten minutes in the car. And I'm sure that the familiar Dovorian trait of knocking the home town doesn't help much either.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#16
and not forgetting the on/off trouble that gets down there.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#17
How true Peter, I used to get the bus to Market Square and work my way back through the town calling at various shops on the way, now there is nothing to draw me to that area of town even if I get the bus to Pencester. Unless a good bus service runs to DTIZ it could well be bit of a white elephant catering only for those with cars.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 697- Registered: 13 Apr 2010
- Posts: 622
#18
Peter makes a good point concerning the elongated shopping area due to the town's topography in a valley surrounded by hills on all sides apart from the sea. This is precisely why the St James's development is so important in creating more of a town centre, and connecting with the Market Square and Pencester area. The development will only be a five minute walk from the Pencester bus terminus. With a multiplex cinema, new M&S, Frankie & Benny's, and more, there's no way it will be a white elephant!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#19
Peter
re; 15
Only one bus service runs through Market square, the 68 Maxton/Temple ewell that runs hourly 9. 30 - 5. 30.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#20
Kevin, what might take you 5 minutes will take the disabled and elderly a lot longer to walk it will take more than the examples you give to entice me to the area more than a few times a year.
Most of Dover's population live inland not near the sea it is a daft idea trying to extend the shopping area away from where people actually live. DTIZ is an ideal site for leisure and entertainment facilities like the multiplex for locals and visitors but not yet more shopping space.
I know I sound negative about the site but this is how I and others I know feel. I wish I was more positive but I believe this is yet another ill thought out plan by DDC but I sincerely hope I am proved wrong.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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