Looking down on the many colourful stalls at St Nicholas

Market from his office in the Glass Arcade, market manager

Steve Morris surveys a Bristol success story.

It is sure to improve further next month with the arrival of

a shop that will become the market's first dedicated fish and

meat outlet in more than 15 years.

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That such a prestigious outlet as awarding-winning deli

Taste has chosen to base itself in St Nick's is testament to

the market's recent success.

Food lovers travel from miles around to shop at the only

other Taste shop, in Barrow Gurney, which specialises in

British seafood, local, organically reared beef, pork and

poultry, and Mendip lamb.

It will also offer French and British cheeses and a deli

counter as well as fresh coffee beans, gourmet chocolates, fine

wines, fresh veg, local eggs, organic bread and dairy

products.

For Steve, there is a correlation between the success of a

city's market and the success of the city itself. Bristol,

therefore, is in very rude health indeed.

Since he began his role as market manager in 1994, two

stalls at the market – Beast Clothing and The Real Olive

Company – have expanded outside the market to become successful

businesses in their own right.

"We are in very good nick," Steve said. "There has been a

regeneration of the market and a regeneration of Bristol over

the last few years. Both the city and its market are in great

health.

"The whole of the market is fantastic. It's in a fantastic

location, we are surrounded by terrific architecture, it's full

of character and has a great history. It represents the best of

what Bristol's about."

The market is made up of four independent areas with their

own character: the permanent six-day markets in Exchange Hall,

the Glass Arcade and the Covered Market, and a variety of

different street markets trading on Corn Street.

For more than 25 years, stamp collectors have been served by

Dick Wynne, 68, of Brislington, owner of Exchange Stamps, who

can only just be seen over the piles of the items he sells.

Dick sells everything from a bundle of 200 foreign stamps

for £1.45, 40p of which he gives to his wife for boxing them,

to a rare set of Chinese stamps from the time of Mao Tse-Tung,

priced at £1,065.

"It's not chaos," Dick said from behind one of the piles of

stamps. "I know where everything is because I put it there.

"I enjoy working here. My customers are good fun. I hate

them. I've got nicknames for them all. 90 per cent are

regulars. There are less than there used to be but there are

still many in Bristol.

"Since I have been working here, the market has changed, but

everything changes. There used to be vegetable stalls and now

there are cafes."

Next to one of the most popular cafes in St Nick's is

Lunartique, a stall selling hand-made jewellery and

ethically-traded Indian textiles, owned by Helen Christini, 52,

from Easton.

Helen has a small workshop at her stall, and most of the

jewellery she makes, normally out of Swarovski crystals, are

commissions. "Once people realise I can basically make whatever

I like to a design that they do, they become very excited," she

said. "This all started off as a hobby but it soon became more

than that."

It was a hobby that also led Steve Eades, 55, of Henleaze,

to open the newest addition to the market – the Nails Gallery.

Steve is a collector of art and wanted somewhere to exhibit and

sell work by Bristol artists.

Since opening on May 10, business has picked up, as more

people walk down the stairs by the market's Corn Street

entrance to find the gallery. Bristol artists being showcased

include Abigail McDougal, Rupert Morley and Rebecca Howard.

Steve sells original paintings and prints and said people of

all ages had purchased artwork from the gallery. "Because of

where we are, we have people coming in here from all walks of

life, some of them who probably have never been to a gallery

before, and that's a great thing."

Over in another corner of the market, shoppers can buy items

they may not have seen for 30 or 40 years in retro store Cream

and Chrome Collectables, which has been at St Nick's for just

over a year, selling phones, furniture, games, lights and

more.

It is owned by Nathan O'Driscoll, 35, from

Weston-super-Mare. "I have been buying and selling retro goods

for five years and this shop is a continuation of that

passion," he said. "This is a vibrant market. It's different,

it's diverse and it's a great place to be."

David Jackson, 48, from Clifton, proprietor of Beware of the

Leopard Books (named after a line from Hitchhiker's Guide to

the Galaxy agrees. "This is a great market but a very unusual

one as for years it hasn't had a food and veg stall.

"That Taste is coming here is too good to be true. It's

great news and will be so positive for the whole of the

market."