Newmarket councillors to have further talks on location for town’s market

Decisions about the future location of Newmarket’s market are being considered by councillors.

A meeting was held earlier this month between Newmarket Town councillors and representatives of West Suffolk Council, and proposals went before the town council on Monday.

Councillors agreed those proposals should be the subject of further discussion by members of the authority’s market working group before a final decision was made.

Back in 2018, the town’s 800 year-old market had moved back to the High Street after trading on the market square since the mid 1970s, but soon afterwards an incident occurred where one of the trader’s gazebo was lifted by high winds, leading to the decision to move the market back to the market square for safety.

Since then, town council has continued to press for a return to the High Street, but West Suffolk Council is against the move, in particular over the cost of setting up the stalls, put at around £40,000, and for safety reasons.

The district authority has made it clear its preference is to continue to use the current market square, and in the report presented on Monday said: “A range of interventions can be agreed such as making a permanent public space on part of the market square, reconfiguring the steps and ramp and making visual improvements to the area.

“Design work can be commissioned to transform the market area into an attractive, functioning location to build on the existing growth of the market.”

It also offered cost effective waste management and space for the market to grow.

“While not back at historic levels and facing the challenges all markets and retail in general are facing, traders have increased since 2024 from two to three weekly on average to six to seven with an additional 13 makers’ markets,” said the report.

The report said £100,000 of funding for the work was available from the Suffolk Inclusive Growth Investment Fund, with £101,000 still available through developers’ legal agreements for improvements to the High Street, including the new lighting columns suggested by the town council.

It also outlined suggestions from the town council that part of Newmarket’s Exeter Road, which runs from the clock tower to the Guineas car park service road, could be pedestrianised and considered as an alternative site for the market, which would also allow for the expansion of the road’s existing restaurants.

In the report, West Suffolk Council asked for the town council’s agreement to abandon any plans to move the market back to the High Street so it could move ahead and look at proposals for both the market square and Exeter Road in detail.

But councillors stepped back from giving such an undertaking until members of its working group had had the opportunity to discuss the report further.