15 Mar Braintree Street Market returns on Saturday 25 March
Braintree Street Market returns on Saturday 25 March with over thirty traders expected including local food and drink producers, street food, bar, handmade items, gifts, and homeware. Visitors will find some of our long-standing popular monthly traders back again for 2023, trading fabrics, honey, prepacked sausages, cheese, beigels, handmade homewares and more. All this alongside our regular Traditional weekly market traders.
The market will run from 9am to 5.30pm in Braintree Town Centre from Bank Street to the high street and Great Square.
Braintree District Council is looking for new and young entrepreneurs and traders to join the street market to promote their small business and reach a new audience.
The council can provide support to new traders with their pop-up stalls. The small market stalls are available to hire, with starting rates of just £11 per event. This means talented crafters, home bakers and new sellers can test the market, see how their products sell and manage their price points without having to invest in a gazebo.
Street market regular, Olivia Washington, is a young trader who started trading at markets this way with their business Olivia’s Curiosities in 2019. Olivia has entered the Young Traders Competition hosted by the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF) and reached the finals for the past three years.
Olivia said: “I started out on a Pop-Up stall from BDC which is a great opportunity. I always recommend new businesses start on one, the cost is low, and they are set up and packed down for you! It’s really weird looking back on my old pictures, considering where I am today.”
Olivia added: “Doing markets help with research & seeing what works, it’s so much trial and error. Markets help tide over the finances when my Etsy takings are low and they are a great way to really be the face of your business, interact with your customer base, get research, and really grow. I don’t know where I’d be without market events, and it is so important to keep them going.”
The street markets are just one of the ways Braintree District Council has invested in the town to give it a boost – alongside the £30million Victoria Square development and £3million pedestrianisation project to regenerate Braintree town centre.
Cllr Tom Cunningham, Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, said: “Pedestrianisation has meant that we have been able to make more use of the space for street markets with more stalls, more seating areas and making it an easier and nicer place to walk around to provide a pleasant experience for those visiting the town.”
If you are interested in having a stall at Braintree’s monthly street market or finding out more, please email streetmarket@braintree.gov.uk.
