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Taking a walk down your local high street immediately forms your impression of whether a place is on the cusp of thriving, or declining.Empty spaces and quiet streets don't make most of us want to pop into town. Unit by unit things close, and what remains doesn't give back life to our communities. A vibrant local market however, with stalls thronged by customers, for me is energetic, interesting and makes a place feel like somewhere I want to be. As Steve Coogan, co-chair Middleton Co-operative Development Corporation says: ‘The key to revitalising the high street is making it a nice place to be.'I agree and would go further - good local markets can be at the heart of thriving places, and should be included in the way we design our economic and place making strategies. They can be a way to grow the things that really matter to people in every postcode: connection to the basics in life (food); connection to each other; connection to opportunity and a way to boost a sense of belonging to the place we currently call home.When you look at a local market, you are also looking at a sustainable economic system in action: money that's already in the local economy stays there. Local markets bring many benefits. They can:1. Provide a vital first step to incubate new local businesses and provide a place where people can actively choose to buy local.2. Create social spaces where communities meet and the elderly and vulnerable can connect with others.3. Generate footfall increases of around +25% vs non-market days, as well as increased retail sales in other local shops ( 55%+ of market visitors spend money in other local stores). (Sources: Institute of Place Management | New Economics Foundation) Markets help us deliver on urgent and current policy initiativesThe new community renewal taskforce is part of government planning for ways to tackle the cost of living crisis. Markets can break the barriers to accessing affordable food and goods to help those most impacted by rises in prices across the board. Markets can also be in a Pride in Place board's toolkit of actions that bring people, civic organisations and businesses together to shape their area. A place to come together and actWe are not alone in thinking Markets matter. Around Britain you can find examples of people trying to save their markets, because they see clearly that they are an intrinsic part of a place's identity and a source of local employment and community wealth. I've also been following the recent story of hope from Brixton Market, a story a long time in the making and one which reflects our notions of good growth both in the process and the result. From the campaign by local groups to get designation as a Grade 2 listed building in 2009/10 to the recent success of the traders and wider community as preferred buyers - the theme of connection and keeping wealth local resonates through. If the community succeeds in raising capital, it will be the largest ever community-led asset purchase in history. But we do need to act together. Contrasting starkly against the pitch of excitement in Brixton, market traders on high streets throughout the rest of the UK talk about rapidly rising rents for their pitches, digitalization of payment systems and being pushed out of existence by competition with the dominance of chains and conglomerates on our high streets and in our digital devices. We cannot see markets pushed into the shadows, and let all the community good they bring drain away. We need to find a way to marry the old world of retail and the new - for the benefit and enjoyment of all.What we can doDo you work for a local or regional authority? Determined to breathe life back into your high streets? 1. Think about markets as a stepping stone to wider high street regeneration. Markets can be a less resource-intensive investment to build the experience, leadership and the ecosystem of traders that can feed into a wider redevelopment of the high street, as identified by the High Streets Task Force.2. Use markets to test ideas of what high streets and town centres can be for: what do local people want and need now, in 2026 to meet their basic needs and social and cultural experiences? You can tap into the many networks of brilliant people who are also thinking about what the future town centre can be. There's many of us… with plenty of ideas and inspiration.3. Keep measuring the impact of local markets in your area on everything from jobs to public health and safety. The GLA has a great toolkit on how to do exactly this: ulm_toolkit_web.pdf Rosie Maguire is co director at Centre For Thriving Places

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REGENERATION

Local markets are the key to re-invigorating our high streets

By Rosie Maguire | 05 October 2026

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