Secrect of St Nicholas market success

By [mbooth]

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."