Romsey’s first ever teenage market was rated a big success and will become a regular event next year.
Town centre manager Mark Edgerley said funding from the Romsey Future Project meant he could organise a further four teen markets in 2015 – two of which would be outside.
Sunday’s market took place in the Crosfield Hall where the 35 stalls filled the main hall and spilled out into side rooms.
The first teenage marketTeenage Market in the UK was set up by teen brothers Joe and Tom Barratt in Stockport and described by retail guru Mary Portas as “innovative and inspiring”.
Romsey’s is the eleventh in the country and took its inspiration from a successful market in Salisbury.
“Around a third of our traders had traded at Salisbury and they said the takings here in Romsey compared very well,”said Mr Edgerley.
Items on sale included various crafts and gifts themed around Christmas, photographic images, jewellery, tie-dye items, baby clothes, art, Christmas decorations, cakes, cookies and comics.
Mr Edgerley said that many of the young market traders were raising funds for charity including one young girl who was supporting a hospice in Canada which had cared for her favourite aunt.
Romsey Town Council provided tea and coffee to accompany cakes made by students from Romsey School.
There was a strong presence from the school, many of whose students whom were raising funds for the ‘Romsey2Kenya’ mission to assist the children of Nakura.
Among the visitors to the event was Linda Cohen of Romsey’s community gallery Rum’s Eg, who said: “I was genuinely taken aback by how good some of the stuff was. There was a really high standard of craftsmanship.”
She said the gallery management would be discussing ways in which they could offer space to some of the young stallholders at the gallery in Bell Street.
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