Retaining Norwich market’s historic charm while adapting its layout and widening its offer is crucial to securing the city gem’s bright future said Councillor Carli Harper.
Cllr Harper was speaking as the city council unveiled its proposed layout and improvements for comments in its Get Talking Norwich platform today (2 December).
Cllr Harper said: “These proposals balance views from the previous consultation, including respondents wish to retain stalls and traders along with enshrining the market’s historical core and, at the same time, ensuring the market has a viable future for the rest of the century.
“Our ultimate aim is to make sure our medieval market remains the beating heart of Norwich city centre and making it the best of its kind in England and Europe.”
The Market improvement proposals include:
- A flexible covered seating area which will create a new ‘heart of the market’ which can host events and enable shoppers to sit, relax and socialise
- A new row of stalls along the Memorial Gardens perimeter, replacing stalls moved to create the new seating area, and offering a different kind of stall for traders.
- Wholesale refurbishment of the toilets
- A New Gateway plus clear aisle labelling and colour coding to reduce confusion.
- Commitment to work with traders to create a mixed offer to appeal to wide range of consumer tastes
The council will be running its online survey on the proposals until Sunday, 4 January and will also be offering drop-in sessions at the market at Aisle A, Stall 28 & 29 – on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th of December, from 11am to 4pm.
Cllr Harper said: “We have been talking to traders already, but we really want to hear from local people about our plans as Norwich Market is the people’s market.”
