19 Apr 2024
With winter finally behind us, St Albans’ award-winning Charter Market seems to be back in full swing. Anna Shreeves spoke to some of the regular traders seen every Wednesday and Saturday – the dedicated individuals who are arguably the lifeblood of the market.
Of the dozens of traders who pack out St Peter’s Street twice a week, many have run their stalls for years, with some even continuing a family tradition.
Richard Green is the third generation of Greens to trade here, with his grandfather starting the family clothing stall in 1955.
He explained what he believes makes the market so special: “It’s a good market, everyone likes coming here. It draws a lot of people into the town: it’s good for business, it’s good for the shops, it’s good for everybody.
“Whenever I go anywhere in the world I try to look for a market because it’s interesting and I think this place is definitely interesting.”
Richard is honest about how the market has changed over the years: “I think it has evolved, there’s more food stalls. I don’t think that it has changed for the better, it hasn’t been so good since all the [traditional] stalls were taken away. The uniformity of it, it looks slightly messy which is a shame but it’s how things are since Covid.”
Sharon Heard, who sells an array of delicious baked goods near St Albans Museum + Gallery, has been a trader at the market for 35 years. Her stall features the sign: ‘The more you weigh the harder you are to kidnap, Stay Safe! EAT CAKE’.
She said what she loves most about the market is the people, but has noticed a change in people’s shopping habits which she feels has contributed to a decline at the market, but added: “I suppose I’m lucky, I’ve got food and people have got to eat. I still really love it, it’s fun.”
Paul Fulton is the owner of Comida Brasil, the traditional Brazilian food stall which started trading in 2015, going on to become a market staple with its Brazilian flag flying high most weeks.
He said: “The menu has not changed since I’ve been here because everyone loves the food so much.”
He is full of praise for the Charter Market: “It’s the biggest and best market for miles and it brings everybody together. It has such a diverse range of goods available and you would be surprised how far people come to visit here. I get customers coming from the south coast just for my food!”
But Paul said everything changed for the market during Covid: “Everything was running smoothly until the pandemic, which obviously affected everybody. The market then took a big hit because we lost a lot of traders.
“The biggest difference is having to use gazebos indeed of market stalls which has its advantages and disadvantages.”
He says although gazebos give the traders more space it now takes them a lot longer to set up and close down and they have to store them themselves. However, Paul says the market is now picking back up and it is still a “very good place to be”.
Paul ‘Chili’ Chilton runs the foam stall, which was started by his grandfather in 1958: “I’ve done this all my life. I’ve been out here for 40 years and I just love it. It’s an absolutely fantastic way of life.”
He said his fondest market memory was “working with my grandfather, he was superb. We used to have such great laughs”.
Despite changes in shopping habits, he remains cautiously optimistic about the future: “I think all markets are declining because of the internet, which is such a tragedy. This one is not too bad, some others are really struggling, but this is still a good market.”
Well-known local artist and designer Hannah Sessions has been on the market for eight years, selling an array of artworks, many of which are St Albans themed.
Her favourite part of the market is the relationship between the traders, especially given the increase in “independent makers” over the past few years, which she feels is a big bonus.
She noted the increase in pitch prices which the council had to implement due to inflation, and said it meant a few sellers have not come back.
Jo Wilson owns women’s boutique clothing shop ‘Joannes of Crews Hill’ and has been trading at St Albans market for 14 years. Her stall, outside Crépeaffaire, is a colourful montage of hanging jumpers and tops.
Jo said: “I love this market, we’ve just won the award for the best outdoor market in the country which is great!
“Saturdays are really busy. Wednesdays could definitely use a bit more support, if there are people out there who fancy a day at the market. It’s well worth a day out!”
She explained what she loves about St Albans: “It’s good fun working on the market. The other traders are great. There is a nice buzz when the town’s busy.
“We are now coming into spring and summer which should be heaving; so all is good!” she said, with a beaming smile on her face.
When asked about the market’s future, she added: “I think it’s going to be different. I’m not sure that the next generation will go into market trading so they need to look into ways of tempting the next generation into being traders.”
The last trader we spoke to was Joe Evans, who works on the family flower stall near Barclays Bank. The stall has been there since 2006 and he has been working on it every Saturday since he was 11 years old, full time for the last four years.
He is a big supporter of the market: “It’s great. It’s great for all the businesses around here. It gets people out and about.
“It’s such a busy city, there is so much to do in St Albans and I think the market is really the centre of that.”
Reflecting on the last few years Joe said: “It’s not as busy as it used to be but that’s the trend with markets everywhere – it’s still one of the best markets in the country.”
He said things were promising looking forward: “There’s a new inspector and a new team who are working really hard to get new traders on board.
“Just over the last three or four years it’s really started growing back to how it used to be – there’s about 100 stalls here now.”
It’s clear that despite some challenges, the Charter Market is still special to its traders and for them the future looks bright for this historic St Albans attraction.
