Barnet’s historic charter market back in its traditional setting

After a seven-week absence Barnet Market is about to return to its original site which has now been resurfaced and smartened up after a £100,000 improvement scheme.

Traders hope the first Saturday market – on 9 November – on what in years gone by was Barnet’s cattle market is the end of six years’ disruption.

This has included the use of two temporary sites, the Stapylton Road car park and most recently the area between Waitrose and the bandstand at the rear of the Spires shopping centre.

Market traders announce reopeningThanks to the tireless efforts of the Friends of Barnet Market, and the dedication of the half-dozen or so stallholders who never lost faith, the William Pears property group agreed to resurface the market and install water and electricity.

The re-opening of the market in its traditional setting is being hailed as a chance for Chipping Barnet to celebrate “an historic charter market granted by King John 800 years ago”.

Up to twenty-five stalls are expected on the first Saturday at the resurfaced site and Chris Smith of Friends of Barnet Market predicts there are more to come in the next few weeks. “The site can hold over fifty stalls and the aim is to fill it.”

While on its temporary site at the rear of the Spires, such has been the proximity of the stalls beside the bandstand, and so friendly the badinage between the stallholders and their customers that the market has managed to recapture the hustle and bustle of previous years.

Bit by bit the new market site took shape. Removal of the wooden hoardings which had become such an eyesore was uplifting in itself; early groundwork made provision for water and electricity supply points; and after completion of the resurfacing, white and yellow road markings now define the layout of what on non-market days will become a new car park.

High Barnet might perhaps have a chance to buck the trend and attract new customRepairs to the pavement and a new low-level perimeter barrier have helped to smarten up a corner of the town that had looked so neglected for so long.

High Barnet has in the process acquired an appealing open space, just off the High Street, which perhaps in future might also provide a meeting place for events such as weekend community fairs or exhibitions.

If new stallholders can be attracted and business picks up, High Barnet might perhaps have a chance to buck the trend and attract new custom as a tsunami of retail closures continues to decimate the high streets of the north London suburbs.