Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
14
Apr
Future of Ripon Market stirs heated debate amid claims it is 'dying'
The state of Ripon Market was the subject of heated discussion between councillors last night (April 13).
The city’s weekly Thursday market has taken place for over 700 years.
Last year North Yorkshire Council stopped providing a set-up service for stallholders, which forced many traders to bring their own lightweight gazebo stalls instead.
This led to fears for the future of not only Ripon’s market but also the Wednesday market in Knaresborough.
Knaresborough Town Council successfully applied to North Yorkshire Council to take over the running of its weekly Wednesday market to maintain its traditional look.
However, Ripon City Council decided against the move despite some councillors supporting it.
At last night's city council meeting, Councillor Pauline McHardy, a Liberal Democrat, said Ripon’s market was dying and called for the creation of a working group to find ways to revive it.
Cllr McHardy said:
Anybody who has been going round Ripon on a Thursday has seen just how dire our market is now. I have spoken to stallholders, and if we set-up a working group we could see if there is any way we can help the traders and promote the market more.
'Integral to culture and heritage'
Cllr Barbara Brodigan seconded the proposal, saying it would encourage co-operation with Ripon Business Improvement District and North Yorkshire Council, adding: “The market is an integral part not only of the culture but also the heritage of the city.”
But Cllr Jackie Crozier, a member of the controlling Independent Putting Ripon Before Party Politics group, said she had “real issues” with councillors talking about the long-term viability of the market.
Although she acknowledged the market faced challenges, she said:
Ripon BID emailed us all last year to complain about councillors going on local radio to say the market is going to end. The market is not going to end. We’ve actually got a good market.
Ripon City Council's meeting on April 13 2026.
Cllr Crozier claimed Cllr McHardy’s comments were “an insult to the market traders”.
Cllr McHardy replied by saying she was insulted by the suggestion that she was critical of the traders. “I don’t know why everyone is looking at it negatively when everyone can see the market is dying on its feet”, she added. “We should try to get behind the traders.”
Independent Cllr Tony Duncan said he supported helping the market and thought a working group had been set-up previously.
But Cllr Gary Camplejohn, a member of the Independent Putting Ripon Before Party Politics group, accused Cllr McHardy of “bringing figures to the table rather than figures”.
'Reality check' needed
Cllr Andrew Williams, who leads the Independent Putting Ripon Before Party Politics group, said the number of Ripon traders hadn’t altered since the shift to gazebo stalls.
Cllr Williams said North Yorkshire Council was “fully committed to delivering markets across North Yorkshire” and Ripon’s was “far superior” to most.
He added “everybody has to have a reality check about markets”. Artisan markets, he said, were popular but traditional markets faced “more competition than ever” from high street stores and online retailers such as Shein.
Referring to Cllrs McHardy and Brodigan, Cllr Williams said:
Those who stand under a Liberal Democrat banner need to be very careful about self-fulfilling prophecies of doom because they are constantly talking down the market in Ripon and the constant telling people it’s under threat or unviable means it’s almost impossible to encourage anybody else to come here because of the negative sales pitch that you two keep peddling which is simply not true.
Ripon Market, he added, also faced direct competition from Wetherby’s Thursday market.
He acknowledged “the look of the market isn’t very appealing” and proposed writing to North Yorkshire Council urging it to continue to allow traders free trial pitches and raising concerns about the appearance of the market and “shabby vans” in particular. He also suggested sending photographic evidence to Tesco’s chief executive of “how quiet” its car park is on Thursdays to encourage the company to allow three hours’ parking, as Booths did, rather than the current two hours, to encourage market visitors.
He said: “But let us stop talking down the market that we have because in comparison to many it is far superior and we need to be selling ot positively and promoting it positively.”
Councillors voted to accept Cllr Williams’ proposals and rejected Cllr McHardy’s working group proposal.
0