YOUR VIEW: What does the future hold for Buxton's market?

There has been a market in Buxton for generations but now only a handful of traders remain.

In August last year Buxton Town Team won a five-year tender from High Peak Borough Council to independently run the markets, and this week it announced a new position has been created to help breathe life back into the stalls.

The official relaunch will be Saturday April 30 when it is hoped there will be 40 stalls and street entertainment.

Robert Hammond, 65, from Whaley Bridge, said: “My wife and I come to Buxton a lot to see our grandchildren, but we never use the market.

“A lot needs to be done to improve it, there needs to be more variety. I think the street entertainment may be a good idea, but it needs to get the basics right.

“At the Christmas markets in Manchester there are food stalls that always do really well, so it would be good to see something like that in Buxton.”

The market is the highest in Britain, standing at over 1,000ft or 300m above sea level, and residents think more needs to be done to make it work in the long term.

Lauren and Jade Ashmore, both 18 from Buxton, would like to see different traders than there are now.

Lauren said: “I don’t know anyone my age who uses the market, there is nothing there for people my age.

“It would be great to see crafts and gifts, not just the same fruit and veg stalls and house stuff.”

Jade said: “The big outdoor markets in Spain offer shoppers so much choice, you can get things you wouldn’t find in the shops and they are reasonably priced too. I think the ideas to bring in street entertainment would be good for parents with small children but it wouldn’t make me come out especially,” added Lauren.

Comparisons have been drawn with other market towns in Derbyshire, and Buxton residents would like to see that success emulated.

Tom Taylor, 25, said: “I love the idea of shopping local but I’ve never bought anything from the market in Buxton because there are no stalls and no choice.

“On a really bad weather day there aren’t any stalls.”

The new market will still operate on Tuesday and Thursdays and the new market manager hopes to have covered stalls for all traders to protect from the elements.

Margaret Ashworth, 67, from Fairfield, remembers the market in its heyday.

She said: “The town has always had a good market but its died a death now. It used to be really bustling and full of shoppers and stalls, there were hundreds of them.”

Shopper Beverly Woods, 52, from Buxton, thinks the market would be better placed closer to the town centre.

“When the artisan markets are held in the Pavilion Gardens they always do well.

“To relaunch the market back at the top of the town is a bad idea - people want to be closer to the high street shops when they come into town, not walking up and down hills to get to the market.”

n Read the article with the new market manager, Lindsay Fieldstone, on page 2.