Lymington market set to return on Saturday – but with fewer stalls

LYMINGTON market is set to return on Saturday in a reduced form as part of the first tentative local steps back towards normality.

Town clerk Louise Young told the A&T the resumption is on a “trial basis” with a “significantly reduced number of stalls”. It will be limited to one side of the road and set back from the pavement to allow additional space to comply with social distancing guidelines.

“If the market is successful then more traders will be operating the following week,” she told the A&T. “The market traders have been very supportive in helping us bring the market back and are ensuring their own pitches are as Covid-19-safe as it is possible to be.

“We ask everyone visiting the High Street on Saturday to respect social distancing and to refrain from parking on the High Street from 6am Saturday morning.” She warned: “Additional parking enforcement will be in operation.”

The clerk added: “There are significant challenges involved and it is clear that, in the short term at least, our market will look and feel quite different from what we are all used to.”

While it will be the first time Lymington market has taken place in some weeks, others around the Forest in New Milton, Hythe and Ringwood have carried on in restricted form.

They have featured essential stalls only, selling food items and set at least two metres apart. The council-run market in New Milton became the first local market to step up its operation on Wednesday, when a dozen stalls turned out.

Estates and facilities manager Mark Jeffries told Monday’s amenities committee meeting held online that extra safety measures were being put in place, including moving stalls a few yards to the end of the southern stretch of Station Road where the pavement is wider.

“I’m confident we should have 12-13 stalls there and I’m confident we can make it work, but we will be constantly monitoring it,” Mr Jeffries said.

Hythe and Dibden Parish Council said the village’s charter holder Paul Lewis was “looking to gradually reintroduce the market stalls” and would “make adjustments accordingly”.

Edward Morant, the charter holder of the Ringwood market, told the A&T he was supporting stallholders financially, having successfully applied for a grant from the government.