Dear Editor,
I am told the stallholders who attend the town centre market each Tuesday have been given a month’s notice. I made enquiries with stallholders who confirmed that they have been told by the Town Council and Town Centre Manager that they are not wanted anymore.
One reason I heard of was that the stalls were scruffy.  I also heard it said that they could not have stalls on the new town centre surface as they might dirty it.
No doubt Freshwaters and the Council will come up with their own reasons to rid us of the market, but I don’t think that most of us want to lose it.
It certainly isn’t the market that it used to be, in terms of size.  Part of the reason for that is that the stallholders have been messed about in the past, and also the town centre has been so run down that it wasn’t worth their while coming.
If the town centre is on the up now then surely the market is an added attraction to help bring shoppers in, and should be built up rather than stopped.
I know of no-one who thinks the market is a bad thing.  Surely it can’t be so bad that the agencies can’t work with the stall holders to resolve the problems.
If the townspeople have any views on this, and would like to see the market continue, I suggest they contact the agencies and make our feelings known.  They have been given a month’s notice so there is some urgency.
Ric Hargreaves