BOURNEMOUTH’S town centre has had a weekly boost as a trial move of the Sunday market into the Square has seen success.

The Sunday market was previously in Old Christchurch Road but moved into the Square at the beginning of March for a trial.

It has seen huge demand from both shoppers and traders since the move.

Dawn Poad is office manager for SMT (Southern Market Traders) Markets.

Describing the changes since the move, she said: “It’s busy, there’s lots of people around, we had more than our usual number of traders, several of them had heard about it and wanted to come, and several of them have come back to us and said they definitely want to stay if we stay there.

“It looked really positive.

“You would be amazed at how well the trader grapevine works. As soon as we moved, we had several phone calls from people saying is this the new market, can we come?

“We had several of the traders going back to the manager saying this had been our best day of the year so far.”

Bournemouth Echo:

The business has run the market since during the pandemic, when BCP Council approached them to run it as the authority’s market manager had been furloughed.

It has run the market in Christchurch for years, and also runs the Boscombe and Poole markets, having won the tender for all four markets in October last year.

Dawn said the area in Old Christchurch Road where the market was is ‘quite quiet’ and ‘looks like it needs a bit of regeneration’, while the Square is ‘thriving’.

Since the move, the business has had around 30 expressions of interest from traders wanting a stall, with a maximum capacity of around 30 stalls in total at the market.

Bournemouth Echo:

Councillor Millie Earl, deputy leader of BCP Council, said she was ‘extremely pleased’ that the move has been received positively.

She said: “The market provider, SMT Markets, requested to move into the town centre. Following a consultation with ward Councillors and the Bournemouth Business Improvement Districts (BID) team, we decided to trial the move from Old Christchurch Road to the Square to animate the town centre, particularly during our quieter months.

“If this trial continues to do well, we will look to continue the market in the square during the times when it is not occupied by other events.

“This work is part of a wider body of work we are doing alongside partners as part of the Bournemouth Action Group to reimagine and improve the town centre.

“The council is also continuing to develop the market offers in partnership with SMT Markets across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.”