The news that the newly pedestrianised Market Place will, once again, be used for market trading is good news for central Reading. Up till May I was closely involved with the continuing programme to improve the centre of our town. While some people disagreed with some of the approaches I backed, very few disputed that the transformation of central Reading from a busy and hazardous traffic route to a tree-lined pedestrian zone was anything other than good for our town.

The emergence of Market Place as a renewed area for trading is something I had hoped would happen, though I knew it was unlikely that I would be in office to see it through. So it is nice to see others picking up the torch. As this column hits the streets the sharp-eyed might spot me taking a look at the Big Green Market’s efforts.

For far too long Reading’s market trading has been a disgrace adding little to our town. The shambles in Hosier Street is shabby, threatening and unremittingly down market. How Trading Standards are not over it like a rash is beyond me. Hopefully the new efforts in Buttermarket, which with any luck will grow and extend along Broad Street, will pull market trading in Reading up a few notches.

Too often have I heard well-intentioned folk twittering on about how UK markets just don’t compare with their continental cousins. An unjust judgement that smacks of not having been out and about much in Britain. There are fine examples of market trading all over the UK – you only need go as far as Oxford for a market that compares well to those around Europe. Markets in most of our big cities put the sad collection of pound shop tat and rotting fruit in Hosier Street to shame.

There is of course already a good quality market in Reading – the Farmer’s Market that operates from the Cattle Market once a fortnight on a Saturday morning. The problem has always been that it takes place out of the centre, difficult for public transport and involves effort to get there. How much better if that market too were now located in the heart of Reading where everyone, not just the Caversham contingent, the car-born and the dedicated could get to it more easily.

This suggestion, because it involves local government, will almost certainly produce a list of seventy reasons why this couldn’t possibly happen. Most of these will be little more than excuses for inaction. All it needs is a bit of political will and half decent organisation  – so long as these country types agree not to tie up their horses outside Heelas (sorry, John Lewis) or start perusing foxes along Broad Street it should be a doddle!
In fact for those who have moaned (without ever offering a practical solution) that Reading’s retail offering is all too corporate, the new market opens up a whole range of possibilities. Rents in central Reading are prohibitive to many would-be traders beyond the big brands. Market stall rents create an opportunity for new diversity in Reading’s retail. But it won’t happen by accident – quality will need to be encouraged and the Council has the power to do so. They must use this power because Reading and the corporate landlords running the major centres will otherwise either drag us relentlessly downmarket (the food offerings in the Oracle) or create a mono culture (the retail offerings in the Oracle). Both have their place but we have a rare opportunity to do something different. Let’s not squander it.

We need a market that we can be proud of. One that offers quality, diversity and value for money – yes, like those on the continent. So let’s wish the Big Green Market luck and hope the Hosier Street market disappears into the foundations of the new Civic Centre.