BRIXTON Station Road Market and Love your Local Market Campaign

May 15, 2013 Peter Rabbit Love your local market 2013, Press Releases Comments Off on BRIXTON Station Road Market and Love your Local Market Campaign

Brixton Station Road Community Market

Left to right: Karim Sherzad, Cllr Jackie Meldrums; Stuart Horwood and Jeff.

Traders at Brixton’s Station Road Market are to celebrate Love Your Local Markets Fortnight with the launch of six exciting new weekday food vendors who will start trading on Friday the 24^th May.

The community market operators will also hold their first social event for traders during the fortnight, which begins on Wednesday (May 13). Traders old and new will gather to share ideas and a drink, discuss the future of the market and meet local councillors and organisations who support Brixton Market.

Station Road Community Market is one of the only markets in the UK to be operated by traders, in the form of the Brixton Market Traders Federation C.I.C (BMTF), with all profits being ploughed back into the community.

The six new pitches in the “Food Corner” will serve delicious food from Monday to Friday, and were especially chosen by the BMTF to add to and compliment existing lunch options in Brixton. Lambeth Council workers and employees of Brixton Recreation Centre among others will be offered a 10% discount at all the Food Corner Stalls.

Stuart Horwood, CEO of BMTF said: “We are excited that there is so much interest from small scale independent businesses to use the street market as a launch pad – this is something street markets have traditionally provided in Brixton and we are pleased to be able to revive that. We keep our rent as low as possible to support this and we encourage young people and start-ups to consider trading in the market.”

Rahima Fitzwilliam Hall, community engagement manager for BMTF said: “This fortnight gives us the chance to celebrate and share three things that are important to us at the Station Road Market; food, community and local enterprise. We’re hoping this will encourage people to come out and use their market during the fortnight as well as highlight the importance of the street market in the community’”

Oliver Hunter, who will be opening food stall ‘Pangea’ on Station road Said ““Brixton represents everything we love about communities, food and drink. We’re really excited about the new Street Food Corner, it’s going to be an awesome opportunity and we hope to deliver some amazing flavours from around the world!””

Atholl Milton owner of Bunny Chow Food Truck coming to the Food Corner said: “Brixton has been a culinary centre for London since the 1940s, at the same time, bunny chow’s were invented in Durban, South Africa. In 2013, the Bunnychow food truck brings their take on this unique street food to the Capital and it was important for us to be part of Brixton’s authentic, culturally diverse and innovative food scene.”

Love Your Local Markets Fortnight runs from Wednesday (May 13) until May 29. It has been organised by The National Association of British Markets Authorities (NABMA) and aims to boost local support for markets across the country.

Graham Wilson OBE, Chief Executive of the National Association of British Market Authorities said: “Love Your Local Market is the biggest market event in a generation. It gives people the chance of a new career and demonstrates how important the market is to the local community. With the financial backing of the Government and our headline sponsor HMY Radfords we intend to make Love Your Local Market 2013 the biggest & best market campaign the UK has ever seen.”

The BMTF will also be supporting Cllr Jackie Meldrums Campaign to encourage people to shop in Brixton’s Markets. The two Saturday markets on the Station Road during Love Your Local Markets fortnight are the popular Retro & Vintage Market on the 18^th May and The Brix Mix market, a diverse mix of traders.

Cllr Meldrum Said “Markets are great , not just for fantastic value but for finding new stuff that you’d never see in a supermarket. I am urging everyone to give up your brands for Love Your Local Market fortnight and see what your local market has to offer!”