Simon Stevens of Quetzal Coffee Company calls for change to make life easier for Newbury Market traders

A stalwart stallholder at Newbury Market has called for a change to the market’s rules in order to make life easier for traders.

Simon Stevens is the owner and operator of the Winchester-based Quetzal Coffee Company which sells freshly roasted single origin Arabica coffees in front of the Gardner Leader offices on Thursday market days.

Trading in Newbury for 20 years, Mr Stevens started serving coffee to shoppers in Market Place at Christmas time in 1994.

He has seen the market shrink from its once packed offering to its current collection of just eight stalls.

He said: “Times have changed, and mid-week markets are much quieter than when I started trading.

“The farmer’s market-generated enthusiasm for buying local produce has peaked. People buy more things online.”

Mr Stevens has suggested that Newbury should follow the example of other charter markets such as Salisbury, and allow its traders to park their vehicles on-site in order to “bulk up” the market and to allow them to pack away their stalls quicker if the weather takes a sudden bad turn.

“This is a great help,” he said. “Vehicles act as wind breaks and allow traders to pack up fast in a sudden blow.

“Newbury Market is now an outlier in this respect.

“The default is vans off unless the weather is really bad, leading to the absurd situation of traders abandoning their stalls and running for their vehicles in distant parking lots when the weather deteriorates.”

“This needs to change, and traders should be allowed to park next to their stalls on Thursdays, at least over the autumn, winter and spring months when the weather is bad.”

Newbury Market traders currently can’t drive their vans on to Market Place until 3pm.

Mr Stevens has also suggested that this could be pushed forward to 2pm or 2.30pm to help the small businesses if they need to pack up and be elsewhere.

He said: “We are all busy people with businesses to run and stock to prep when we get home, and blind deference to an era that has passed is not helpful.”

Are you a Newbury Market trader or customer? What changes would you like to see made in order to improve the current market experience?

Email me at cameron.blackshaw@newburynews.co.uk if you have any suggestions.