[Louis]

I’ve been looking to open a stall on the market for a while now, but have been knocked back each time. The reason I have been given is that the market already has that kind of stall and the council need to monitor what is sold there. Whilst I agree with this in ways I find it hard to believe that healthy competition is not encouraged, after all this is a market and not a monopoly.

After this happened several times, I asked what the individual thought the market was missing, to which I was told “they pretty much have everything”. There was nothing encouraging or proactive to come from the conversation except frustration from myself and the increasing obnoxious attitude from the individual I spoke to who really didn’t want to help and reminded me a couple of times she had to go because she finished work early, this was midday and followed 6 calls and several emails over 3 weeks to pin her down with no response.

The only 1 thing she did help me with was that the market was encouraging ppl to sell food, of any kind. Great, but I’m not a foodie tho. I entertained this for a short time and when posing questions as to what the market has on certain days etc I was treated to a series of huffs and puffs on the phone.

Now, I don’t know if I’m missing something here but my understanding is

1) No duplicate stalls are allowed to protect existing stalls owners and therefore no creating a healthy competition which customers want and deserve.
2) I can sell any food I want but obviously have to compete with the supermarkets etc who purchase on mass.

Has anyone else had similar experiences/responses?

Apologies this turned into a semi rant, but from my experience there really is no encouragement. Maybe this is the individual I dealt with?

Can anyone from the council market team shed any light?

[Author]

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