PLANS are being made for Wokingham market to be expanded from Monday, June 15, as long as social distancing measures can be retained.
The market has continued to trade throughout the pandemic, with food and pet food stalls coming on a regular basis. And Wokingham Town Council has worked hard to ensure that it has operated as safely as possible.
Over the past few weeks, its officers have been working on a recovery plan so that when the non-essential stalls start to return from next week, it will be safe for both the public and retailers.
This work has included talked with traders, and following guidelines issued by the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA).
Wokingham.Today understands that this means there will be fewer stalls in Market Place in the short-term and that a fair rota will be in place to ensure the regular traders are treated equally.
An added complication is the shops around Market Place which will start to reopen from Monday, June 15. They will also need to adhere to social distancing guidelines and, as a result, will probably need to incorporate a queueing system outside stores to limit the number of customers in store.
Throughout it all, Wokingham Town Council is working to reopen the market in a safe way for traders, customers and other users of the town.
Cllr Imogen Shepherd-Dubey, leader of Wokingham Town Council, said: “The market in Wokingham has been in continuous operation since 1219 and has no doubt seen many problems in its 800 years of operation.
“This has to include historic plagues such as the Black Death and the town being ransacked and burned several times during the Civil War.
“This year, there was no requirement to close the market, as long as the public could maintain social distancing.
“Our traders who sell food and grocery items have therefore been allowed to continue in the same way as supermarkets.
“This has provided an alternative food source during lockdown and has ensured that the supermarkets do not have a monopoly on all of our food supplies.
“All this latest announcement means is that we will be able to allow other kinds of non-food or grocery traders to return.
“However, this will depend on us being able to keep people social distancing and it will limit the number of stalls we can have.
“As indicated, there is a concern about how we manage the market place social distancing if other shops in the vicinity open and people have to queue outside.”
