There used to be treats and delicacies to be found in the SWF Market
A new market venture
A weekly market started a few years ago, pre-pandemic, up in the square beside the Oakland Hotel. The owners of the hotel very kindly offered stallholders pitches at only £10 each to help get the market going and to encourage a few more business to come. Sadly, the residents of South Woodham prefer convenience to shopping around and the market never really established. People might complain about the cost of living crisis generally but not so much in SWF.
It was a nice idea
South Woodham residents voted with their feet and didn't turn up. It was originally thought that a quality cheese seller would be welcome, as would organic egg sellers, fresh fruit and vegetable stalls that sell by the kilo and pack in paper bags to reduce the use of plastic. It also offered a good opportunity for hobbyists such as craft makers who could sell their creations. There are plenty of people who like to make hand-made items such as jewellery, shopping bags, artificial flower arrangements and so on. They could perhaps have get together to run a weekly craft stall.
Online shopping is the norm for many nowadays so that a street market is an outdated concept. Amazon has made it to so efficient and easy to order and return goods and they sell everything except fresh foods.
Food tasting
Some of the food traders had samples of their foods to taste but it wasn't enough to tempt people there.
A few of the current stalls that used to be on offer:
A fish stall
Fresh fish stall with a good selection of fish and seafood; salmon, cod, haddock and lots of other white fish from Billingsgate Market.
A Giggly Pig stall selling sausages, baby back ribs, burgers and other products straight fom the farm.
A farmer's market delicatessen type of stall with organic bread and all kinds of fabulous breads and home-made cakes, high quality Greek olives, huge delicious samosas, pork pies and more.
A chutney stall
Jars of chutney of various flavours that would go well with Giggly Pork sausages, a pork pie or some of the items from the delicatessen stall.
A cake stall
Selling cup cakes and slices
A sweet stall
This has a good variety of old-fashioned sweets and interesting confectionary such as slabs of liquorice toffee or coconut ice bars.
Plants for the garden stall
A good selection of shrubs and bedding plants
Avon Stall
How to buy Avon products without having to invite the seller in for a cup of tea.
Pet food stall
This stall sells all kinds of products for dogs and other pets. The 'postman's legs' seem to be a popular choice.
Various other stalls. Come down on a Thursday to see the rest and try sampling some of the food.
Monthly Farmer's Market
A farmer's market will also take place on the 4th Sunday of every month.