Consequently, she is siding with local Crouch End residents, who have lodged a planning application for the market. Meanwhile, local traders are adamantly opposed to a weekly farmers’ market in their high street.
Crouch End shopkeepers argue that a farmers’ market will draw people away from their shops; however, they seem to be welcoming the deluge of big chain shops and supermarkets due to arrive on their high street. Opening soon in Crouch End are Marks and Spencer, Tesco and an organic chain store, Fresh and Wild.
Fellow Green Party London Assembly Member, Noel Lynch, a former small shop owner, will be accompanying Jenny Jones as she meets local Crouch End residents and traders, as well as other shopkeepers from other parts of London, who claim to have benefited from a farmers’ market in their area.
Jenny and Noel will be visiting the proposed market site in front of Hornsey Town Hall on Friday 31st October at 2.30pm.
“I’ve spent the past few months visiting many farmers’ markets across London. What I have found is that local traders’ fears soon turns to enthusiasm once they realise that a farmers’ market draws in more people with spending power to their shopping centre,” said Jenny.
In support of the case for a Crouch End farmers’ market and to allay the fears of local traders, Jenny will hand out copies of a survey showing how traders in Twickenham town centre benefited from a farmers’ market.
The Twickenham Farmers’ Market survey showed that there was a large influx of people into Twickenham town centre, coming specifically for the market with many going on to other shops, including food shops. Jenny said, “If the market was located in Alexandra Palace as suggested in the local press, the valuable shoppers will be drawn away from Crouch End town centre”.
Commenting on the situation, Noel explained, “Crouch End small shops have much more to fear from large supermarkets moving in the area, these are the real threat to the small traders not the weekly farmers’ markets. London is littered with high streets that become a desert once the supermarkets moved in. There is mounting evidence that once the big supermarkets move in small traders face a slow but certain death.”
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
A Farmers’ Market is one in which farmers or producers from a defined local area are present in person to sell their own produce, direct to the public. All products sold should have been grown or produced by the stallholder. The National Association of Farmers’ Markets stipulates produce is be ‘locally grown or produced’ – within a 100 mile radius for a London market and a 30-miles of the venue for the rest of the country.
(1) The report ‘Farmers’ Markets – building bridges between farmers and London shoppers’ is produced by Jenny Jones, Deputy Mayor of London Jenny Jones, a Green member of the London Assembly. It calls for a farmers’ market every weekend, in every major shopping area in London. (2) Twickenham Farmers’ Market Survey, produced by Twickenham Town Centre Management Board – 0208 843 7944(3) Where Have London’s Local Shops Gone? A recipe for the revival of strong independent shops. Produced by Noel Lynch, Green Member of London.
According to the NFU there are 400 farmers within the Greater London boundary and 15% of London’s area is farmland. (www.nfu.co.uk)