By Zoë Uglow

A town-wide meeting is to be called later this month to discuss the future of Holsworthy’s historic weekly market.

The Wednesday weekly market has been part of the fabric of the town for hundreds of years and appears in the 1632 town Charter.

The town council took over the running of the market more than 20 years ago from Torridge District Council and have tried over the years to ensure the market stays fresh and relevant in a modern world.

However, the market has been running at a loss for some time now and is becoming unsustainable.

The council say, as this is such an integral part of Holsworthy life and its history, they are keen to engage with the public to find a way forward.

A town council spokesperson told the Post: “Over the years we have tried to adapt the market to best suit the town.

“Currently the market is operating at a loss. This is not sustainable. We aren’t too worried about making a profit, that isn’t what this is about, but we do need the market to break even to ensure its longevity.”

Many iterations of the town market have been seen over the years, and when COVID hit, things had to change.

“We saw an up-surge after COVID but that wasn’t for long. We have tried leafleting, social media, all the usual routes for encouraging more people to attend and join our market but to no avail.

“Another issue we face is where to hold the market. We often hear people saying they can’t park in the Square when the market is on so we worked with traders to open part of the Square to free up some parking, but people still say it blocks off too much space.

“But if we were to house the market somewhere else, where would that be?”

The council say they want to involve the town in the discussion now to decide the market’s future.

They added: “We want to see the market flourish but we need some new ideas. We hope locals will come along to this meeting and bring their ideas — we need to be asking the people of Holsworthy as it’s their market after all.

“It is an important part of our town, we are a historic market town after all so it really is the foundation.

“Many of our local shops started life as a market stall and we hope there will always be a place for it in our town, but we need some news ideas.”

We visited Holsworthy on market day, Wednesday, February 22, to find out how the market stall holders were feeling and to discover exactly what is on offer.

We met a range of stall holders, many of whom had travelled some distance to attend the market, which they all concurred was “one of the best around”.

Pauline Hicks of St Giles has had a market stall for more than 30 years and joined Holsworthy Market around four years ago.

She said: “For me it is a great little market, has always served me well. I would say it is one of my best markets. I started off with a stall in the Memorial Hall but once COVID came we had to pack up and make a change. That’s when I joined this market in the Square. I prefer this though, being outside.”

Pauline sells homemade jams and chutneys, eggs and baked goods among other items. She had a brisk trade and whilst we were chatting several customers popped by to pick up their weekly clutch of eggs.

She said: “My customers are regulars, they know I will be here each week. For many, they can’t drive, so the convenience of having it here in the Square is really important — if you put this out the Cattle Market for example many customers wouldn’t be able to come.

“It would be such a shame if we were to lose it. People rely on it for the social aspect as well as being a place to purchase locally made goods — that’s what it is all about!”

One market stall holder, Brian Masters, who sells old coins and his own handmade paintings, said there was just “something special” about Holsworthy and its market that kept him coming back.

“I used to live in Victoria Square, we then moved away and I am due to move back there soon — I just can’t resist Holsworthy, there is something about it.

“It is a great market, and I want to keep it going. I will definitely be attending this meeting.”

Brian said something needed to be done about the location as he felt it was becoming dangerous: “I think they should stop the cars coming through, it puts pedestrians off.

“Whatever happens at this meeting we need to make sure we keep this market going. I’ve been coming here for more than 30 years and intend to continue for a long time to come.”

Laurence Squires of Bideford makes the journey each week to set up his stall in Holsworthy’s market and sell a variety of wares because he says “it is a way of life.”

He continued: “I come to this market to make a living. I’ve been trading for 21 years and this has always been a good market to me.

“When they moved the Cattle Market it really imploded — that had a devastating effect on the town centre.

“I don’t know what is going to go on at this meeting but I will certainly be there to fight the case to keep it open.

“It is in this town’s Charter so you can’t just get rid of it — it is even mentioned in the Doomsday Book, that’s how important it is.”

Laurence said he felt the meeting should be opened up to more people as it wasn’t just Holsworthy residents who would be affected.

“I have customers who travel from Bude and the surrounding villages every week — what about them? They use this market too.”

Laurence added: “I have been fighting for this market for years, and I will continue to do so!”

The town meeting will be held on Thursday, March 23, starting at 6pm in the Memorial Hall.

Once the town council has collated any ideas put forward during the meeting, they plan to create and distribute a survey to ensure the wider population of Holsworthy are able to have their say on the ideas put forward.