Market is vital boost to town

That's the hope of the organisers and Swindon's town centre management, which sees the regular market as a major draw for shoppers.

On the couple of days it has already run, it has been proven to draw an extra 200 people to Canal Walk.

It is being run by Wiltshire Farmers' Markets Association, which in Swindon is co-ordinated by Lorraine Stanton, of Vowley Farm, near Wootton Bassett, who is also one of the producers with food on sale.

The farmers' market, which is not run by the same organisation that puts on one at the Outlet Village on Sundays, used to be held outside the Market Hall.

The launch of the new-look farmers' market, which has already opened for trading a couple of times, is on Friday at 9am in Canal Walk. It will run on the second Friday of every month.

There are also plans to run one in Old Town on the fourth Friday of the month, but as yet a venue has not been found.

Mrs Stanton said: "There will be about 16 stalls and everything comes from within a 30-mile radius, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

"All the meat is free range. There are free range eggs and a several cheesemakers. There's also a stall from a vineyard we've got most things covered. In Swindon we have a range of supermarkets and other boutiques, but in terms of purchasing high-quality fresh food there's a lack. There are few bakeries, butchers or greengrocers."

Mrs Stanton said she was keen to work with the shops already in the town centre, to help bring more people in to benefit them too. In Salisbury, it is a well-recorded fact that trade on farmers' market days is higher than on average.

And Mrs Stanton said that the belief that markets are too expensive was wrong.

"There is a general conception that a farmers' market is exorbitant but I would contest that," she said. "And a lot of the goods you will not find in a supermarket."

Tom Morton