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Well Done Norwich Market


Chelsea14Ian

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Norwich market has been voted the best in the country. We always stop off to the market.When we are close by.The market is always worth a visit.Often picking up spices,sometimes fruit and veg .Indeed think Norwich has a good selection of shops.Marina always likes calling in to the bear shop.We often spend a few bob there.If you have not visited give it a go.

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I love Norwich market...always my No.1 place to go when we moor at Norwich. The range of food stalls there is top notch...something for everyone, whatever your food preference, from traditional British fare, pie and peas, vegan or whatever culture’s food you are into, and always a fair price too.

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Living locally I found that Norwich Market was geared to the American tourist.   Their prices are beyond expensive on the items I have purchased in the past.      Fresh salmon which I can pick up for £4 a piece was £8 and £9 each on the market.     Yes I felt I was being had.

 

 

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When I was there last year, I think less than half the stalls were actually open and my favourite second hand book stall was gone too. I think the problem is that you can only buy there, as much as you can carry home on your bicycle, as you are hardly allowed into Norwich by car anymore.

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We often visit by boat, but at times by car.Yes they do encourage park and ride,but there are car parks also.Okay something are not cheap,but the quality is good.My local large market is Woolwich,which as a child was very good.Lots of meat fish and veg.Many stall holders had been there for years.Always a interesting visit.Now sadly just a few fruit and veg stalls.Lots of stalls offering rubbish

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The car parks are grossly overpriced and often have queues all down Chapelfield Road. Have you tried the Postwick park and ride? I only suffered it once! Norwich is being killed off by all the green and pedalling policies of the City Council. They have even banned floats on lorries from parading at the annual carnival in case they cause pollution, so that will probably be the end of that.

Perhaps I am biased as I have always loved Norwich. When I was a young man I used to park on Gentleman's Walk every Saturday morning and didn't even have to pay for it. It was the bustling commercial heart of the City then. Now it is just a long row of coffee shops. Nowadays I only go into Norwich if I want to buy something I can't get elsewhere. I notice even Clarks Shoes now have their main outlet on a retail estate outside the City centre. Why? Because you can get there by car without hassle and park outside the shop for free!

When will the council ever wake up to this?

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having used norwich market over the years i find it's not worth the visit ,overpriced tat, if this is the best god help the rest!
markets generally are in the decline ,mainly due to pound shops, primark and other cheapo shops, many on here will remember Thoresby sunday market with over 1000 stalls, 3 hrs at least to browse it all,they even put a roundabout on the A614 to cope with the traffic,gradually went downhill,great gaps in the rows of stalls, sadly now closed
only decent sunday market within reasonable driving distance seems to be at Skirlington between Hornsea and Bridlington

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It's a fact, that we've forgotten how to do markets here in the UK, I think supermarkets (one stop for everything) doomed most of them, long ago. Our friends in Europe, particularly France, still embrace the market culture. If you see the 'local produce markets' in most French towns, you'd understand why. Wandering around a Provencal market in the sunshine, does have a lot more going for it, than Norwich on a wet and windy Wednesday...

Having said that, once you get past the stalls selling vacuum cleaner parts, dodgy DVD's and mobile phone accessories; Food wise, Norwich market is better than most in this country and has some very good produce. "The Cheeseman" stall, has some lovely cheeses (you won't be surprised to learn), The big 'fruit & veg' stall (at the front, on 'Gentleman's Walk') has gorgeous Norfolk strawberries (in season) and tomatoes that taste like tomatoes should. Wonderful home baked pork pies from 'Pickerings', bread and ham from 'Norwich Providore', all perfect, for a picnic at Burgh Castle, Horsey beach or St. Benets Abbey.

So, Norwich market is well worth a visit, but it could do better. Given the choice though, market day at Aix-en-Provence or Norwich, it's no contest really...

If we're not moored at the Yacht Station, we'll always use the 'Park & Ride' (Sprowston or Harford usually) much easier than facing the Norwich traffic jams and searching for somewhere to park in the city.

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Sadly, its a case of local authorities knowing what is best for us! So many markets have deteriorated to a mere shadow of what they once were. Trying to suggest nobody uses them anymore is a fallacy perpetuated by the big hypermarket thugs like Tesco.

In Wakefield we have gone from what was one of the best in West Yorkshire to having no market place at all and a few odd stalls given the dubious priviledge of setting up in the pedestrian presinct!

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2 hours ago, lurcher said:

Recently i bought some lovely looking Herring from the market ,but walked away stunned at having just paid £10 per kilo

How times change... I remember, in the mid seventies, when the herring stocks were so low, fishermen weren't allowed to land herring for sale. The local fishermen at Gorleston often netted herring, when shrimping, they would give them away at the quayside, by the bucket full, very tasty they were too...

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20 minutes ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

The cost of fish has gone high in recent years.When I was a child it was a cheap meal.Not anymore. That not the only item that is not cheap.This morning I brought assorted candy nuts £10.00.Lamb at one time was fairly cheap,no longer.

I usually buy cod loin but at a normal price of £16.00 per kilo I tend to wait for  reduced offers and then freeze the fish after cutting into portions, the same goes for salmon.

Regards

Alan

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I think it's a little unrealistic to compare our markets with those of the continent, at least those in France and Belgium which I have visited. They are more like what we would call a "farmers market", selling locally produced goods but at a premium, sometimes very premium price. That said I fully agree that our markets are in decline. 

Our local market in Leicester has been voted best in Britain many times, twice in the last three or four years but it is not a patch on what it was. Sadly I find much the same for Norwich and have to agree with Vaughan and Chameleon. Not worth the trudge up the hill from the river anymore. 

I'm not sure that blaming Supermarkets is quite correct, affter all they have Supermarkets in France too.

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Gosh, what different perspectives.

For what it’s worth I think Norwich Market is re-defining itself. I suspect the old type of mixed ‘sell it cheap’ stalls don’t appeal to enough people nowadays and are losing custom.  It’s not the type of market I bother visiting often, though we have one with a good variety of stalls next to our Milton Keynes City Centre Mall. I’m attracted to the Norwich market because it’s offering something different, in food stalls at least.  

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On thinking of that long row of almost identical coffee shops along Gentleman's Walk, who drinks this frightful stuff anyway?

I have only ever tried it once and that was on Liverpool St Station, platform 9. (I admit perhaps not the best place for a quality test). I simply asked for a black coffee and innocently expected something in a cup and saucer. Instead I was handed a white polystyrene cylinder, about the size of a hand fire extinguisher, with a large plastic straw which had been bent over so that it was looking at me from out of a small hole in the top, a bit like the periscope of a U Boat.

Lifting the lid (and scalding my fingers) revealed a quite obnoxious liquid paste which looked more like a botanist's sample from the bottom of Barton Broad. It didn't even smell like coffee! It smelled just like Barton Broad. Looking around me I could see that most of the other people on the platform were all wandering aimlessly about, carrying the same white plastic cylinders with little straws on the top. If this is what the City of London is living on these days then I fear for their futures (pun intended).

Anyway, I left mine untouched and got on the Norwich train, where I found the buffet car was already open and enjoyed a glass of wine instead. I think that was a lot better for me!

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If a town had a market or a "Farmers market" it would normally be held on the high street or a market square which would adjoin the high street. One day a week, there would be stalls operating in direct competition to the high street shops, but this would be compensated by the increased foot fall on that day.

That was then... this is now!

Supermarkets and retail parks have pretty much finished off the high streets as we knew them. Now the only shops that can survive in a town centre are charity shops, Hairdressers and Estate agents. Yes there are exceptions, there always will be, but for the most part high streets are done for, especially in places without the benefits of tourism.

With those high streets went the markets. Why would Joe Average go to a market and pay extra to buy loose veg when he can buy everything he needs, all nicely washed and wrapped in handy size plastic bags at lower cost?

The final nail in the Markets coffin was the boot fair, loved by so many. In amongst the few amateurs selling yesterdays Christmas presents, you will find the professional toot sellers and a few, just a very few market traders... if you are very lucky .

Where all this will go now on-line shopping is growing, who knows? Maybe the pop-up ads are the replacement for "Git your bananas 'ere, two bob a pound."  

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