Markets Archives - The Assembly Line

Setting up stall again as markets return.

As reopening continues at pace across high streets and town centres, we adapt to new ways of moving around and accessing shops and services, it’s easy to lose track of what opened when. Whilst it often appeared that reopening dates were set at short notice, (often announced on a Wednesday/ Thursday for reopening the following Monday), there were industry bodies working hard behind the scenes with their members to draw up guidelines so high streets and businesses could adapt and be ready for their reopening date. A big component of many high streets and town centres is a market, be it a traditional indoor market hall, outdoor farmers market or the newer food hall that has opened up over the [...]

blog admin2020-09-14T18:07:51+01:00September 14th, 2020|Business support, Markets, Place marketing|

Community at its best at Ruddington Village Market

Last month we visited Ruddington, a large village five miles from Nottingham with a host of indie shops, local history museums and a country park. In 2019, the village launched its own street market and we went along to celebrate the market’s first birthday. We met with some of the organisers and spoke to market traders and shop owners to find out more about how the market started and what benefits it has brought to the village. It was a great visit and really reminded me of the heady days of starting out when I was one of the founders of Chatsworth Road market, in Hackney back in 2010. A year in and the Ruddington team are running a slick [...]

blog admin2020-03-06T13:26:45+00:00March 6th, 2020|Engagement, High Streets & Town Centres, Marketing, Markets, Place marketing|

The Assembly Line annual round up

2019 has been a busy year at the Assembly Line. We have worked on a number of interesting and diverse projects and we are now planning ahead for 2020. We have capacity for new projects from March onwards. If you would like to collaborate on a high street project involving business engagement, retail, local economies, street markets or place marketing, please feel free to email us on hello@theassemblyline.co Here’s a recap of what we have been working on in 2019. Developing a market strategy via public consultation This year we worked with Westminster City Council to manage a public consultation on their six street markets. Over 18 months we were part of the wider team ensuring communications, licensing, legal and [...]

blog admin2020-02-28T12:06:47+00:00December 20th, 2019|Business support, High Streets & Town Centres, Marketing, Markets, Place marketing, Retail|

The changing face of high streets presentation with The Assembly Line at Hawkins Brown.

Hawkins Brown, an international practice of architects, interior designers, urban designers and researchers invited The Assembly Line in last month to talk about ‘The role of markets and the changing high street’. The objective of the talk was for their team to learn more about the changing high street and the role street markets can play, which may impact the practices’ placemaking projects in and around town centres. The presentation and Q&A, provided a whistle-stop tour of changes impacting the high street as the retail sector undergoes huge change, the history of markets looking at them in all their guises and how the combination of high streets and markets can work together to create stronger places, that stand out, build [...]

blog admin2020-02-28T12:07:37+00:00December 3rd, 2019|High Streets & Town Centres, Markets, Retail|

A Place Management tour of the North West.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the northwest this year. I know the region well having grown up there and worked in Manchester early in my career. Now based in London, I have been used to returning for quick weekends to see family or for events but often haven’t had the time to stay much longer. Since starting The Institute of Place Management’s MSc Place Management & Leadership Programme in January this year at Manchester Metropolitan University, I now build in time around the residential sessions to get out and about with my place management hat on and take a fresh look at new and familiar places. On a recent trip, we managed to fit in quite a [...]

blog admin2020-02-28T12:08:52+00:00October 10th, 2019|Business support, High Streets & Town Centres, Markets, Place marketing|

Launching a market start-up/incubator programme with Chatsworth Road.

Photo credit: Kriss Lee Chatsworth Road Market Traders’ and Residents’ Association (CRTRA) were the first group in Hackney, East London to launch a start-up trader programme for local residents at its weekly market. As the market grew from its early stages and expanded, the team wanted to ensure that local residents still felt connected to it and that there were opportunities available to them, if they had ideas for a new product or service. This entrepreneurial programme was aimed at local people on benefits (postcode and benefit confirmation were part of the application) and provided the opportunity for new traders to launch their own businesses at the market. The project aimed to: Connect local people with the street market Create [...]

blog admin2019-07-29T15:51:05+01:00July 15th, 2019|Business support, Enterprise, Marketing, Markets|

Exploring Thailand’s markets.

Markets in Thailand offer a bustling cultural experience. With their vibrant, carnival like atmosphere, the markets offer a huge array of goods to browse and in many cases meeting both local and tourist needs with a mix of everyday produce, handmade goods, arts and crafts and street food alongside mass market cheap goods as well as providing a social space. There were few supermarkets in the local areas and with a market culture, it did appear to be the case that people’s shopping patterns take them to markets rather than supermarkets for a ‘big shop’ (but I wasn’t there long enough for this to be a fact!). I was lucky enough to visit many of the markets taking place in [...]

blog admin2019-07-29T16:12:57+01:00June 16th, 2019|Markets|

Creating a three year strategy for Westminster’s street markets via public consultation

This project involved oversight of a 13-week public consultation, working with the council’s Insight Team to devise a trader and customer survey, run drop-in sessions and use the response data to produce a three year strategy that recommended a way forward for all five of the council’s markets. Action plans were produced for one of London’s oldest markets on Berwick Street (Soho), the second biggest daily street market on Church Street and markets on Tachbrook Street (Pimlico), Strutton Ground (Victoria) and Maida Hill (Harrow Road). The plans were developed following extensive consultation and were in the context of developments already underway in the form of master/place plans and neighbourhood plans. Brief To: Develop a street markets strategy to include a [...]

Diane2019-11-12T14:21:15+00:00June 13th, 2019|Business support, High Streets & Town Centres, Marketing, Markets, Place marketing|

Creating and managing a place marketing programme

The traders’ and residents’ association for Chatsworth Road in Hackney, east London was founded in 2009, when a group of shop owners (most of whom were also residents) got together to see what could be done to offset the decline of the local high street. The decline had led to shops closing, and a number of premises lying empty which affected community morale and reduced footfall. Over several years we were actively involved with the changes in the street from launching a street market to working with the council on a number of initiatives. We also developed and managed the place marketing programme for the neighbourhood. In recent years Chatsworth Road has experienced a great deal of change and continues [...]

Diane2019-08-27T14:35:43+01:00June 5th, 2019|High Streets & Town Centres, Marketing, Markets, Place marketing|

The Stronger Town Fund launches in the UK.

The government has launched a UK fund in an attempt to boost struggling towns. The £1.6bn ‘Stronger Towns Fund’ is due to be allocated using a needs-based formula, which communities can bid for. It has been speculated that more than half of the money is to be spread across towns in the North of England and in the Midlands over seven years Although the funding will provide a well-deserved cash injection into many towns, the funding has caused some concerns. One concern is that the bidding for funding encourages competition between places. This sadly contradicts the work underway via the regional mayor models (i.e.-Manchester & Liverpool) that are encouraged to work together collaboratively. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland seem an [...]

blog admin2019-08-27T14:42:09+01:00April 11th, 2019|Business support, High Streets & Town Centres, Marketing, Markets|