In April, Shropshire Council took direct control of the indoor and outdoor markets in Market Drayton after it faced criticism from traders.
With the takeover came the appointment of manager Kate Gittins, who had been at the helm of Shrewsbury's award-winning indoor market for 18 years.
Under Kate's supervision, Shrewsbury Market Hall underwent a huge transformation. In June 2006, the market was on its knees, with many empty stalls and few customers.
But 12 years later it had bagged the title of 'Britain's Favourite Market', a title it would go on to reclaim in 2023 and 2024.
The National Association of British Market Authorities, which awards the title, also gave Kate a lifetime achievement award in 2023. Now, she can't see why Drayton can't achieve the same.
With the takeover came the appointment of manager Kate Gittins, who had been at the helm of Shrewsbury's award-winning indoor market for 18 years.
Under Kate's supervision, Shrewsbury Market Hall underwent a huge transformation. In June 2006, the market was on its knees, with many empty stalls and few customers.
But 12 years later it had bagged the title of 'Britain's Favourite Market', a title it would go on to reclaim in 2023 and 2024.
The National Association of British Market Authorities, which awards the title, also gave Kate a lifetime achievement award in 2023. Now, she can't see why Drayton can't achieve the same.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I arrived here on the 1st of April, so it's a couple of months into it now I suppose.
00:06 And we've had obviously huge plans for the, well not so much for the indoor market
00:13 because as you can see it's all full and busy and buzzy, but certainly for the
00:19 street market we're hoping to improve on that. I mean, but today of course it's
00:25 looking good because of course the sun's shining, which is one of the joys of
00:32 managing a street market, it is very weather dependent. Yes, I mean there are a
00:37 lot of traders who will trade in most conditions and obviously we're reliant
00:42 on those turning up, but there are the casuals, the sort of more fair weather
00:48 traders who are obviously reliant on good weather, because of course the good
00:53 weather brings out the people as well, the customers, and so the two tend to go
00:58 hand in hand. But as I say what we've got today is a great turnout and we have to
01:04 make the most of those days. Well I mean a lot of them have been here for years,
01:09 I mean for instance Shepley's and Mary's Meats, which is fantastic, and then a lot
01:16 of others have obviously arrived since, and already since my arrival we've had
01:23 some changes and we've got some new tenants going into a vacant unit here.
01:30 They are actually on the tables at the moment and going from tables into a unit,
01:36 which is great, they're thrilled, and then obviously as time goes on there
01:42 will be further changes.