Sheds for Christmas market, Parliament St, 16 Nov

York’s Christmas market is back again this year. It’s apparently judged to be ‘the third best in the UK’.

I’m rather baffled by this. I don’t mean the ‘third best’ thing, who cares, I mean the fact that once again there are a lot of sheds crammed into Parliament Street and St Sampson’s Square.

Back in 2019 the Christmas market here was so popular that it ended up being a bit of a nightmare. The Press reported the ‘festive queuing and shuffling’.

I wrote about it, and the dangers of ‘overtourism’, back then. It feels like four years ago, but I’ve realised that my perception of time has been quite distorted by the recent stresses, so that two years feels like four. Not alone in that, I think?

Strangely, in 2021, we’re once again encouraging a lot of people to cram themselves into one part of the city centre, and because of this it’s apparently then necessary to surround it with a ‘ring of steel’ – the return of the ‘hostile vehicle mitigation and pedestrian barriers‘ we saw back in 2019.

Barriers by All Saints church, 16 Nov 2021

They’re meant to protect the city centre against terrorist attacks, and to make us feel safe. They just make me feel despondent. So does the Christmas market. Am I just an old misery? Perhaps.

This old misery took herself into town a few days ago, to have a look at the festive sheds and the barriers, before the market opened.

Parliament Street, from Piccadilly end, 16 Nov 2021

Weren’t we supposed to be building back better, or at least differently? This looks just like 2019 to me. Same old thing.

But a bit more confused, as there’s so much mixed messaging, so many contradictions. And perhaps quite a bit to feel angry about, in terms of what this all costs, and who it benefits.

The Christmas lights switch-on event in the city centre was cancelled because of fears about Covid spread, as a lot of people would then be gathered together at one time.

A spokesperson for Make It York said: “After much consideration the decision has been taken in partnership with York BID not to hold a physical light switch on event this year.

The event is always hugely popular, drawing in large crowds over a short period of time – and to ensure the safety of all visitors and residents we will instead focus on showcasing our winter light scheme via our online channels.”

But clearly the Christmas market – also drawing in large crowds over a short period of time – is thought to be a good idea. Presumably because it makes a lot of money, for some people involved with it. Though Make it York, who organise it, keep asking for more.

The Christmas market is clearly popular with visitors, but is seen by many York residents as something tedious and problematical imposed on us, rather than being something to get excited about. Many residents just quietly avoid it, and go elsewhere.

All things considered, I’m really surprised to see the Christmas market resurfacing this year. ‘Roll up, roll up, come and queue and shuffle round our festive sheds, at the third best Christmas market!’

‘My City Centre’

Its arrival seems to go against a developing trend of trying to encourage more residents back into the city centre. The city council recently asked for our views, in ‘My City Centre York’. It aims for ‘a new city centre vision':

A vibrant city centre, where a wide range of people want to spend time, live and work; a place where businesses thrive, sustainable communities grow, and a varied cultural and social life flourishes…

I didn’t respond to the ‘My City Centre York’ survey, but it looks like a lot of people did. On the council website there’s an interactive map, with comments added about particular streets and areas. I thought I’d have a quick look at Parliament Street, which has a lot of ‘thumbs down’ markers over it. The first one I selected reads:

This whole area is becoming a no-go area for residents and is now just a showground for MIY events that drive out residents and local traders

And another:

Always seems to be hired out to out of town travelling trades. Doesn’t support the local economy. Would be the best cafe / restaurant street.

And another:

St Nicholas Market disrupts city centre too much

I could find no comments saying that the Christmas market is a wonderful thing really valued by local residents.

So another contradiction – the council wants to encourage more residents back into the city centre, wants to make it more inviting, so it’s not ‘just for tourists’, then Make it York (agency owned by the council apparently dependent on council money/bailouts) plonks in the middle of it something that appears to be designed to attract more tourists. This then needs expensive barriers erecting around it, which make it harder not just for vehicles to access it, but funnels pedestrians and wheelchair users through narrow channels between big lumps of metal. How odd.

Shopping spree …

When not preoccupied with fears about Covid, and before the new festive anti-terror barriers arrived to remind us to also be fearful of terrorism, we may have found time to be fearful about climate change and the effects of our behaviour on the planet.

Many of us have recognised for some time that there are easy ways to lessen our impact, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to not buy loads of stuff we don’t need. Or to feel at certain times of year that we should buy stuff for other people that they don’t need or want. I got the impression that many more people were agreeing, between families and friends, to stop the Christmas gift-giving for us older people with enough stuff already. Particularly if you’re going to get in a car and drive miles to buy the stuff, rather than shopping locally, as I thought we were being encouraged to.

There are, of course, many shops in York, interesting independent ones, there all year round, where you could do your Christmas shopping, as you want to/have to.

But apparently there’s still enough demand for York to once again have its big Christmas market, and we should just ignore all of that. Maybe go back to hand-wringing and grand words and promises after the festive sheds are packed away.

How it could be …

We’ve had one year when we saw how it could be different. Last year, because of Covid, Parliament Street didn’t fill up with festive sheds and shuffling queues. It had the carousel, and some food stalls, and very nice it was too. When I walked through it one afternoon in December it had a very pleasant, gently festive atmosphere. I haven’t forgotten this. It was a glimpse of how York’s Parliament Street could be a gathering place for festivities that felt like they were part of York, naturally growing from it, rather than being plonked upon it.

Parliament St, 23 December 2020, with carousel

Even the problematic Parliament Street paving looked better, reflecting festive light, and giving us more room to move than is usually the case here at this time of the year.

Parliament St, 23 December 2020, without the festive sheds

Last year at this time things seemed quite quiet in town. This year, earlier this week, even before the market had opened, the city centre already seemed very busy. I was also in town briefly in half term, and the city centre was full of people of all ages out enjoying a mild autumn afternoon. I walked through King’s Square, where crowds were gathered to watch one of the street performers. Just like the old days, and good to see.

The city centre would presumably have continued to flourish without the tourist-pulling overcrowded Christmas market.

It’s possible to avoid the Christmas market, of course. But if you want to go into the city centre for some other reason, it’s quite difficult to ignore the barriers set up at many points around its periphery, and these are what prompted me to write this page. To me they’re depressing, essentially pointless, questionable at best. And they cost. And again, Make it York needs ‘support’ from the council to pay for them: “support with the cost of counter-terrorism measures during the Christmas market period, at a cost of £78,900.”

Hope all tax payers are happy with this.

– – – –

Apologies if I’m not able to post pages on here so often, and that when I do I sometimes seem to be repeating myself. Some problematical/questionable things need looking at and questioning more than once. I’ve lived in this city for a long time, and this resident’s record of York and its changes continues. Comments below and coffees via ko-fi are welcome, as always.

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Parliament Street paving, Dec 2019

Sorry, it’s paving again. It was going to be more about Coney Street, but after some research earlier today for today’s December Daily that subject is too complicated to consider and condense at this point.

So I’m going for pondering upon the state of the paving in Parliament Street – pictured above, a few days ago.

I have mentioned it before, and though it might seem like I’ve got a strange interest in paving, I really haven’t (though all pages tagged paving are on this link, if you’re interested). I’ve been forced to focus on it again after reading about the extremely expensive plans to repave/’reconstruct’ Stonegate, which I wrote about earlier this month.

Here is Stonegate, with its signs already in place saying that the work is going to start in January.

Stonegate, with signs about imminent repaving, 25 Dec 2019

And here’s Parliament Street:

Parliament Street paving, 25 Dec 2019

— with no sign that any work is ever going to happen to do anything with its paved surfaces which in large areas are completely rubbish, and have been for years.

What’s hard to convey on flat photos on flat screens is how the ground level undulates, how uneven it is.

Probably a lot to do with the pollarded plane trees, and their roots. It would appear that the trees and the paving slabs don’t fit well together. But how do other cities with large trees manage this?

This bit is the pavement to the left of the central area pictured above, looking towards M&S:

Parliament St pavement, Dec 2019

In the middle bit we’ve got large stone slabs, cracked slabs, small setts, etc, and on this bit we’ve got concrete slabs, small setts, and tarmac (blacktop).

Why has the rubbishy state of Parliament Street been ignored for so long, while so much money is being invested in repaving Stonegate?

If there was any kind of consultation on the spending on Stonegate then I missed it. As with the repaving of King’s Square, I don’t think there’s a magic money tree, so presumably council tax payers are funding the repaving of Stonegate. How many of us walk along Stonegate regularly? How many of us walk along Parliament Street?

Increasingly perhaps many of us aren’t bothering with the city centre much at all … ?

. . .

I noticed recently that I appeared to be approaching a total of a thousand published pages/posts here on York Stories. (There were around a hundred more, before that, back in 2004, but they’re out adrift on their own, in an archive of ancient work unfriendly to smartphones and tablets etc.)

I think this page, when published, is where I hit the 1,000 mark. Bit of a shame really that it’s about something as boring as paving …

But anyway, nice to be still recording York, its grubby corners and its glories and its wonky paving. Thanks for your virtual coffees in support of it all.

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Through a hole in the hoardings, the Parliament Street fountain, 14 May 2018

After much debate and discussion, much controversy and delay, the Parliament Street fountain is now being demolished. Recently, when the hoardings went up around it, I wandered up that way, and also visited another fountain in the city centre, which may be restored. More on that below.

I’ve written about the Parliament Street fountain a few times in the past, as the issue of its possible demolition raised some interesting questions. Now that demolition is taking place the main question is what might go there instead.

Nothing, I hope, at least not in that exact same place.

On my recent wander I approached it from Market Street — the street that goes up from the corner of Coney Street and Spurriergate, with Feasegate branching off it about half way along, and continuing on to Parliament Street.

Street sign: Market Street

Approaching from Market Street seemed to re-emphasise, as I thought it might, my previous perception of the fountain as ‘a thing in the way’, at this meeting of roads.

More of a thing in the way than usual, at the moment, with the hoardings around it and the wider area around it.

Hoardings around the Parliament Street fountain, 14 May 2018

Just beyond that is the entrance to the expensively refurbished market, now known as Shambles Market. A large metal sign spans the Jubbergate end of it, and another banner sign below urges us to love our local market.

Directly below that, on the evening I passed by (in mid-May), the prominent but rather grimy panels on the hoardings wished ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our customers at Shambles Market’.

Hoardings around the Parliament Street fountain, 14 May 2018

Thankfully they have since been removed, as they looked a bit daft.

A brief wander around the perimeter of the fenced-off fountain revealed small round holes in the hoardings, forming a pleasing frame for these last views of it, a day or two before its removal.

The soon to be demolished Parliament Street fountain, 14 May 2018

There are, I know, many people who felt very fond of the fountain — even though it hadn’t done anything fountain-like for years — and many people saw it as an important meeting place.

Personally it doesn’t have that significance for me. Mainly, as I’ve said before, it felt like a thing in the way, when I approached as I often do from the market area down Jubbergate to get to the bank on the other side, or headed across to Market Street to get to Coney Street.

Here’s a view from that perspective.

View from the Jubbergate entrance to Shambles Market, across Parliament Street, towards Market St, 14 May 2018

Obviously the hoardings take up a bigger area than the fountain did, but I hope it illustrates the point.

To me, it’s a junction, a place where roads meet, and anything in the middle of it is an obstacle. The old fountain perhaps a bit like a roundabout for traffic, with pedestrians in a hurry having to slow down and join the traffic moving around it.

I lived in York for decades before I realised that Jubbergate had a name. When I realised it did, that seemed ridiculous for such a stumpy short bit of street. All makes sense though when you realise what the creation of Parliament Street entailed, how it cut through and cleared. Here’s the 1852 map:

1852 map showing Jubbergate and Parliament Street

Note how long Jubbergate used to be. Part of it disappeared with the rather brutal cutting through of Parliament Street in the early 19th century, but you can still see its line clearly, marked Jubbergate and High Jubbergate on this map. At some point later the longer section was renamed Market Street. A name that made sense as it led to the main city marketplace, on Parliament Street.

But of course in more recent decades the city’s main permanent market hasn’t been on Parliament Street, but shifted to one side in an area between Jubbergate/Newgate/Shambles. Its most obvious entrance — the Jubbergate one — is still opposite the end of Market Street. Just that for the last couple of decades there’s been the structure of the fountain there in the middle, between the two.

With the obstacle of the fountain out of the way, it strikes me that it would be better to use the natural flow of the streetscape we already have, a street called Market Street, on the line of the old Jubbergate, leading to part of the current market place on what’s left of Jubbergate. There’s always a flower stall at the market’s Jubbergate entrance, a far more attractive sight, I reckon, than the shiny marble and strange little railing of the disused fountain structure.

The old fountain, in recent years, served mainly as a seat. Benches could replace it on either side of the space it once occupied, taking the line of the old Jubbergate, emphasising it, leaving space for Jubbergate to take the line it used to.

The old fountain was of the type intended to provide water for looking at, purely decorative. If anything is going to replace it as a permanent structure then a drinking fountain would perhaps be a good choice instead (but placed to one side of the old Jubbergate line).

There has been talk of statues, etc. If the demolished structure has to be replaced by anything then a drinking fountain would be far more useful, far more 21st century … and it would also mean that the people who used to say ‘Meet me at the fountain’ could still do so. Seems obvious to me.

Which leads me on to …

A drinking fountain long since dry: possible restoration?

Museum Street’s non-operational drinking fountain

The old drinking fountain on Museum Street, on the perimeter of the Museum Gardens, is something I’ve often admired, and been interested in, and wondered why it has been left for so long as a non-operational structure. I wrote about it some years back, and just assumed that drinking fountains are a thing of the past. Then not long back I read that the Civic Trust had restored a drinking fountain on Acomb Green, which sounded very interesting, until I realised that it had only involved repainting, rather than getting the thing to work again and be useful (I’d rather it had been left alone, rust and patina and natural weathering and all, but that’s just me perhaps).

But this drinking fountain on Museum Street, it looks like it could perhaps again provide water, as it’s on a list of projects the Civic Trust is considering.

Lion’s head on Museum Street’s non-operational drinking fountain

The Civic Trust’s website says:

York Civic Trust would like to restore the drinking fountain in Museum Street to good working order. It is a Grade II listed structure dating from 1880 originally sited in Library Square, it’s been derelict for at least 30 years and we wish to restore it to working order, in particular to meet current Government initiatives. One of the lion head’s need replacing. Estimated cost £6,000.

There’s an opportunity to vote for this, if you’d like to support it. More details on this link.

But don’t go yet … a few more photos and thoughts follow.

It’s good to see that the Civic Trust has opened up its ‘city enhancement’ project to public comment. It might be nice to have a functioning drinking fountain on Museum Street. I think I vaguely remember it working, in the 1980s, but I’m not sure.

Museum Street’s non-operational drinking fountain: detail

Museum Street’s non-operational drinking fountain: detail

Museum Street’s non-operational drinking fountain

I remember looking into the subject of drinking fountains in cities when I wrote about this one before, and not finding much. Now, in 2018, I found recent articles on the provision of drinking fountains in London and other cities, a 21st century take on things.

Such a practical and useful thing, and if other cities can manage to have functioning public drinking fountains then presumably York can too. A restored one on Museum Street, and perhaps a new one on Parliament Street … ?

More information

Drinking water fountains should become as iconic as the red British telephone box – Telegraph, 24 March 2018

‘They’re just not very British': will cities finally splash out on water fountains? – Guardian, 5 Dec 2017

First of London’s new drinking fountain locations revealed – Guardian, 25 March 2018

Footnote

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not able to add to this ‘resident’s record of York and its changes’ as often as I used to, because it takes a long time to write original content and take the photos to go with it, and these days it has to fit around other more important things. This page, for example, has been in draft for well over a week. A half-written page on something else is still sitting in draft form from some time before that. But if you like what I have finished and published, and all the things you can read here, old and new, going back many years, you can support it, and me, with a virtual coffee (or indeed several) and that’s always very much appreciated.

The post Parliament Street fountain demolition, and a possible fountain restoration appeared first on York Stories.

The disused fountain on Parliament Street, having for many years served as a useful seat and meeting point, is now serving another purpose, as a support for advertisements for a forthcoming event.

On a previous page, prompted by Press reports, we were wondering what the story was regarding the fountain in Parliament Street and who ‘Make it York’ are, and how it is that they appear to be deciding on the destruction of the structure on behalf of the city’s residents.

The Press has since done a follow-up piece. It didn’t provoke as much interest as the original and rather alarmingly headlined one did, but it was more important as it provided clear information on the role of Make it York:

Steve Brown, managing director of Make It York said:”We wish to clarify that any decisions which impact on the fabric or infrastructure of the city centre are the responsibility of City of York Council.

However, as the company leading on marketing York, we will contribute our opinion on matters which we feel impact on the city’s attractiveness as a place to live, visit, study and do business.

Our opinion on this matter is that a redundant fountain doesn’t add to the city’s attractiveness and we were recently approached by the council to discuss this, in view of the fact that there is currently no plan to restore the fountain to working order. How this matter is progressed further is a matter for the council to lead on and to agree a way forward.”

(Full article here)

The Press also did an opinion piece on 13 July on the subject, perhaps hoping to provoke more comment. The piece seemed to suggest that we should leave Make it York to make decisions about the city centre.

The broader issue here is about the role of Make It York. Will every substantial decision on the city centre in future be taken by the city council? And if so, what was the point of setting up Make It York in the first place?

Yes, that is indeed part of the broader issue, as highlighted on these pages a few days earlier. Surely every substantial decision on the city centre should be taken by the city council? Because they’re elected and answerable to us, and we can usually read the agendas and minutes of their meetings? Hard to imagine how it could be otherwise, in the light of increasing citizen involvement, the ‘Localism’ agenda and changes in approaches to governance and transparency. It’s not the 1950s.

The Press coverage provoked some interesting and amusing comments and readers’ letters. In response to the oft-quoted fact that the fountain is an established meeting point in the city centre, one person suggested we could get rid of it and put a large sign saying ‘Meeting Point’ in its place. Another reader wanted a statue of Richard III.

On the subject of statues and fountains, let’s dash across the city to another fountain, overlooked by a familiar figure.

Yes, it’s dear old grubby Etty! But he’s not grubby anymore. He’s all sparkling white.

This apparently happened a week ago and was captured on camera by Keith Myers, @York_Today on Twitter.

@YorkStories I saw him being blasted with water on Tuesday. Here’s the pic. pic.twitter.com/nGtyi1YsFQ

— York Today (@York_Today) July 10, 2015

Poor Etty, being blasted with water. I thought he looked a bit wide-eyed and startled.

Etty overlooks the fountain in Exhibition Square, which unlike the Parliament Street example is actually a working fountain with water jets playing gaily across a pool of water. But it was eating Etty, and there was talk about removing one or the other of them, as discussed on this site some time back.

At the time, Reinvigorate York did a consultation on changes here in Exhibition Square, and some of those took place, so it now has new paving and bus stops. I wondered if there was going to be a stage 2, involving the removal of Etty or the fountain, but it seems that we’ve settled for cleaning him up.

Perhaps the fountain will be filled in instead. I hope that any decisions on this will be publicised and made by elected officials in a transparent and open way.

I’m not a big fan of statues, but over the years I’ve developed a fondness for Etty on his plinth. And he needs to stay here, in this particular place, his eyes forever fixed on Bootham Bar, that’s an important part of the story of this statue.

Writing to the local paper in February 1832 Etty urged that “a little stir will save the Bar, and in saving it, save many more precious remains in York.” (source)

Local authorities sometimes have terrible ideas about civic improvement, and the passionate campaigning of ‘engaged’ citizens, in response, has helped to preserve the heritage and character of our cities. As Etty wrote back then:

With all your improvements, patching, and cobbling, you can never make York a uniform, “well-built” City. But keep her Antiquities, and she will always possess a charm, an interest, far beyond that of most other towns, however regular their streets or “handsome” their houses.

And a message from me …

This website is completely independent, receives no external funding, costs money to host and a lot of time to write. If you’d like to support this work and help pay the hosting costs you can do so via this link.
Thank you
Lisa @YorkStories

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The Parliament Street fountain is ‘to be demolished’ reported the Press recently. Updated stories followed, with local councillors saying it must be discussed, and further comment from Make it York.

The Press articles provoked a lot of comment and even provoked a petition. It’s good that people care what happens to it, because it’s part of the city’s streetscape, it’s a thing in the city we call ‘our city’, and residents’ taxes must have paid for it. Some people see it as an important meeting point. I see it as something kind of in the way that I walk round on the way to the bank. Personally I don’t care what happens to it. I don’t find it attractive, particularly since it had that strange little railing added around it. But let’s look past the fountain – which is easy, because it’s low, and isn’t actually a fountain, as it hasn’t done anything fountain-like for some years. It’s now basically a circular (octagonal?) seat. Let’s look past it to the bigger issues. Whether or not we care about the fountain, there are important questions to be asked, part of a bigger picture we should all care about.

Cllr Denise Craghill, in the Press coverage, wanted to highlight the ‘general issues of accountability and democracy’ arising from this story. It isn’t the first time I’ve read of concerns regarding who ‘Make it York’ are accountable to. We may be wondering who ‘Make it York’ are, deciding the fate of ‘our fountain’.

From the various quoted comments, it all looks a bit confusing and opaque, this decision/plan.

The spokesman for Make it York said in the Press ‘our understanding is that works are planned for the autumn’. Which sounds like the decision has been made already, and made by someone else, not them. The updated story in the Press quotes them again, saying ‘no final decision has been taken’, but that ‘the issue will be discussed at the next board meeting’. These meetings of Make it York include some ‘elected members’ (councillors, I think this means)  ‘including City of York Council’s chief executive, leader and deputy leader’.

So are these meetings like council meetings, with an agenda we can read in advance, where public representations can be made, perhaps they’re webcast so we can watch the discussion about ‘our fountain’? Because ‘Make it York’ is kind of part of the council, isn’t it? Or not? There’s some information in the links below.

‘Reinvigorate York’ came to mind, which I never really understood either, as it seemed to be about members of the council’s cabinet at the time and Ron Cooke of York Civic Trust getting together and getting a bit irritated with the natural and meaningful layers of the place and saying that certain parts of the city needed expensive makeovers to turn them into ‘world class space’. Which mainly seemed to mean that they might look okay afterwards but that the result could be anywhere in the world. Like King’s Square, which had a fortune spent on it, and which now has expensive paving, but the best bits of it are the bits they changed their mind about, and left alone, like the mulberry tree and Paul Woosey’s bench on the raised part of the square.

If, dear readers, you really care about the Parliament Street fountain, then fight to save it from destruction. But perhaps our time would be better spent asking a few questions about the bigger picture?

It appears that more of the local authority’s responsibilities are disappearing off into rather mysterious separate bits, and it can be difficult to keep track of who is making these decisions, and where and when. Does that matter? I guess it does, judging by the reactions to the story about the fountain. I guess we expect our elected representatives to make decisions about the things residents’ money has paid for, and these days we tend to expect that they’ll do that openly, with consultation. Particularly as increasingly we the public are voluntarily helping with the maintenance of local parks and helping to run the libraries, ‘all in this together’.

More information

My attempts to find more information on Make it York and the fountain, and when and where this decision was taken, if it was a decision –

Information on Make it York from the City of York Council website and the organisation’s own site

An interesting piece on Makeit York and other similar organisations — an interesting overview, recommended reading

There’s a brief reference to the removal of the fountain in the reports pack for a meeting on 10 March 2015, during which the Shambles Market changes were also discussed. Make It York took on responsibility for the operation of Shambles Market from 1 April, the available online documents also record.

Things that Google found on the City of York Council website that I haven’t got time to read as I want to get outside for some fresh air …

And a footnote

This website is completely independent, receives no external funding, costs money to host and a lot of time to write. If you’d like to support this work and help pay the hosting costs you can do so via this link.
Thank you
Lisa @YorkStories

The post About a fountain, and the flow of information appeared first on York Stories.

I have to confess that I’d not really noticed the fountain wasn’t working. All it is to me is a slightly annoying thing in the way on the occasions I dash from Newgate to the bank. It’s just another of those not particularly enduring structures we spent money on in the late 20th century. I wouldn’t have mentioned this fountain at all, ever, if it hadn’t been for a very funny piece by Chris Titley, which suggests various creative uses for the structure now it is no longer spouting water.

It inspired an idea to add to the mix, regarding what we can do with the redundant non-operational fountain structure …

Fountain/mountain of fruit and veg

… A stall for selling fruit and veg. A fruit and veg mountain on the fountain.

This design makes good use of the slight incline on the existing structure, and in the vision of a ‘fruit and veg mountain’ it fully utilises the existing railing structure, which stops the mounded peaches rolling off. (Not part of the original vision for the fountain: photo. Not sure why or when it was added, but it looks silly, doesn’t it.)

Parliament Street was the home of the market stalls for decades, and the majority think the market should never have left here to move around the corner into Newgate. This central York street is often occupied now by visiting markets and used for special events, but the traditional York market is allowed to use the space on Mondays. After which it has to go back round the corner.

As previously mentioned, it seems likely that a(nother) Sainsbury’s Local is to occupy the ground floor of the old White Swan hotel building, not far away, on Piccadilly, at the end of Parliament Street. This hasn’t been universally welcomed, for obvious reasons, particularly by market traders. If they were given a more prominent position where the shoppers rushing to Sainsbury’s had a chance to see them then that might help. This fruit and veg mountain fountain could serve as a reminder that fruit and veg doesn’t have to come sitting on a plastic tray or in a plastic bag, brought in from miles and miles away. Perhaps to make it more appealing to non-locals (and we all realise that the ‘visitor offer’ is of utmost importance) someone in a historical costume could juggle peaches, discuss the history of this street, or perhaps ponder why its paving is so strangely wonky. I’m planning to do two of those things. More later.

Credits

Fountain photo: David Smith. Inspiration: yorkmix.com on the Parliament St fountain, fruit and veg photos: @sheilas321veg.

Elsewhere on the web

Stallholders hail return of city centre market trading (on Mondays) (from The Press)
Market trader Valerie Mitchell quits stall after 45 years (The Press)

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