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Published:
March 23, 2006
Burnham
traders give cautious welcome to continental market plans
Burnham-On-Sea
shop owners this week gave a cautious welcome to plans for a three-day
continental market to be held on the town's seafront.
Town
Centre Manager Anne-Marie
Spalding told a town council meeting that the market is scheduled
to take
place on The Esplanade during the first week of July.
 But
the event was given a cautious welcome by John Edwards, chairman
of the Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade, which represents shops
in the town.
"We
need to be very careful that those traders who already sell products
like bread, meat and gifts do not have their noses put out. They
need to be fully considered," he said.
Chamber
member Alex Turco added: "We need to encourage as many of
the market's visitors into the High Street to diffuse the argument
that trade is being taken away by the stalls."
But
former Burnham-On-Sea Mayor, Cllr Louise Parkin, who chairs the
Town Improvements Committee where the scheme was discussed, reassured
them: "We want people from outside the town to come into
Burnham and also visit the High Street. The market may be a good
event to encourage them to return and shop here in the future."
Members
of the Town Improvements Committee also looked over promotional
material showing the types of stalls that might attend. Products
on sale will vary from bread and wine to clothing, crafts and
jewellery.
After
some discussion over whether the range of products should be restricted
to those that do not compete with existing traders in the town,
councillors voted to back plans for the market to sell them all.
Cllr
Neville Jones explained: "You could actually make a good
argument to cut out everything on the list, but that would defeat
the whole object of having an event like this."
The
market is likely to be held on The Esplanade, near the town's
tourist information centre, and will be promoted heavily in the
weeks leading up to it.
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Continental Market plans edge closer
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