The latest newsletter of the National Retail Planning Forum features an endorsement for markets from the NRPF Secretary George Nicholson. The article highlights the fact often ignored by policy makers that there is a continuous thread connecting the free standing stall on the street market to the largest regional shopping centre.

George Nicholson acknowledges that “Markets can add excitement and variety to the wider retail offer, and they merit a place in the modern retail hierarchy.”

The article refers to the historical association for markets with the development of retail giants such as Marks & Spencer and Morrisons. It also suggests that there are two problems that need to be addressed: raising the profile of markets and getting local authorities and others involved in running markets to see themselves as part of the bigger retail picture.

The NRPF Secretary concludes the feature by confirming “..the message to everyone involved in markets – public and private – is that you have to want to run a market to make a success of one. Far too many operators are presiding over decline either by running them as a public service or as a result of a planning condition. Neither approach will deliver the type of market that will attract today’s shoppers. As the best of the markets in the U.K, on mainland Europe and elsewhere have shown, it is possible for markets to take their rightful place in the modern retail hierarchy.”

Visit www.nrpf.org to read the full article.