Traders at 700-year old market back town council takeover proposal

Traders at a historic street market have welcomed the prospect that the town council could take over control.

They are hopeful that Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet will approve a proposal to negotiate a transfer of Holywell Market of ownership from the local authority to Holywell Town Council next Tuesday to safeguard the future of the 733-year-old market.

“I think the town council taking it on is a good idea,” said Debbie Lovell, who has been bringing her Gifts and Fragrances Galore stall to Holywell for 15 years.

“It might just create an opportunity to improve the visibility and awareness of the market and hopefully attract some new traders.

“If the town council take it over and want to make it a success, the potential is here. There are plenty of people who will come to Holywell – the day of the Christmas lights switch-on I’ve never seen the town so busy!

“I actually sold out that day. So with the right offer people will come into town and we’re happy to work with them to build it up.

“The fees aren’t high, but I think if the town council takes over they do need to try to get the community behind it so that when new traders come along the footfall is higher.”

The Cistercian monks of Basingwerk Abbey were granted a charter to establish Holywell as a market town by King Edward I in 1292.

A weekly street market has operated in the town ever since and – despite having been moved from Heol Fawr (High Street) to Gerddir Twr (Tower Gardens) – continues to attract shoppers.

Holywell resident Tilly Mears, who sells fruit and veg, decorative festive  wreaths and gifts in the market, said she would always have a stall there as it was her town market.

“Holywell has always had a market and I want to support it so I will never leave,” she said. “There are other markets on a Thursday where I could do more business but I want to be here in Holywell.

“We are part of the fabric of the town. The shop-owners in town all support us and want us to stay.

“It can be tough for new traders but often they come for a week or two and then go elsewhere. It takes probably about six weeks for people to get used to the fact you are here and then you start getting business from them. Perhaps if the town council does take over they could incentivise that in some way.”

It was a feeling echoed by Mike Jones, who sells jewellery and hand crafted Herculite ornaments on his Celtic Works stall.

“It’s been here over 700 years, we are causing no harm,” he said. “We bring people into the town and provide a social, face-to-face shopping experience.

“We’re market traders, we chat. People have got to know us – for some of them they may not have spoken to many people in the week, but they know where we are and they come along.

“The market is much more than shopping, it’s a community. Yes we could do with more traders here but we need to protect what we have.”

Daz Dorling, who started bringing Daz’s Extravagant Cakes annd Bakes to the market in the summer, said the market still had huge potential.

“I came here because it was my local market,” said Daz, from Pantasaph. “It is important to support your local community.

“But what I found is that it is a really valuable market. The people here really do want to support it, they just want more choice. I do really well here which is why I keep coming back.

“I have regulars already who come every week for a little treat and there’s a really good vibe here.

“I genuinely believe there is great potential for growth here. I don’t know exactly how, but I know that the people I speak to in Holywell are keen to shop local and to support the market if it has the right offer.

“It’s also a great place for people to start a business. I see other markets with a lot of young traders for whom jumping straight into a lease on a shop is not the right move.

“Markets give them an affordable way to build up their business and once they are established, maybe then they go for a shop unit. As long as it remains open then it is possible to do something. If it closes, it is gone and it won’t come back.

“I think whoever is operating the market, if they listen to people and are prepared to modernise it, Holywell could thrive just as other markets do.”

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet will vote on whether to allow discussions with Holywell Town Council over the transfer of ownership of the market on Tuesday, December 16.

If councillors approve, the markets will continue operating while the details of the transfer of ownership are ironed out, with a deadline of April 2026 for the process to be completed.