'Record breaking days' for Pop Up Market Co in St Helens

With the Pop Up Market Co first appearing in St Helens back in June, the mixture of food, drink, arts, and craft stalls has been a welcome addition to the town centre and has provided a big boost to weekend footfall.

Returning on the last Saturday of every month, the markets seem to be a win-win in St Helens as traders have experienced "record breaking days" while local retailers have benefitted from the increase in visitors.

And as the number of stalls has already increased since their first visit, the Market Co business owner says there is much more to come in St Helens.

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The markets have been a big hit in St Helens (Image: Pop Up Market Co) After running an ice cream stall and coming from a family of market traders, Matilda Bruchard moved into running artisan markets as a consultant for other companies.

Working in this role for around eight years, Matilda said she saw a "gap in the market (pardon the pun)" to curate high-quality artisan market events with limited duplication.

Launching Pop Up Market Co earlier this year, which sets up in one location per day, Matilda has quickly built up the business' reputation after taking the idea to locations such as The University of Manchester, The University of Salford, as well as at Kampus and First Street in Manchester.

After working with St Helens Council to bring the project to Church Square, Matilda said it is "incredible" to see how quickly the market has taken off in St Helens.

Some of the food options on offer at the markets (Image: Pop Up Market Co) Matilda said: "St Helens loves the Pop Up Market! Each month we see sell outs and record breaking days for our traders.

"It's incredible to see how strong this market is so early on. The footfall is strong and we find that we have the highest footfall quite early on in the day.

"I know from speaking to the local retailers that the market has helped with footfall with the additional people in town for the market.

"Each month the market has grown in size and traders are talking amongst themselves and spreading the word on how successful the market is."

There are a variety of high-quality artisan traders at the markets (Image: Pop Up Market Co) Explaining that there "something for everyone" at the markets, there is also a vibrant community atmosphere at the stalls, with Matilda loving the fact that she knows her traders so well.

Encouragingly, there have also been some local traders joining in with the Church Square pop ups, and Matilda has purposely refrained from having a coffee stall to ensure that the markets complement the town centre and do not step on the toes of local businesses.

Aiming to pick up some further pop up locations towards the end of the year, Matilda said that there are some "brilliant plans" coming up in St Helens, particularly around Christmastime.

The pop-up stalls return to Church Square on the last Saturday of every month (Image: Pop Up Market Co)The next Pop Up Market Co event in St Helens will take place in Church Square on Saturday, September 28.

Do you have a news story? I cover the whole of the St Helens borough and surrounding areas. Email conal.cunningham@newsquest.co.uk

(Image: Pop Up Market Co)