Sydenham Market

[king]

Hi all,

I'm a first-time poster so apologies if this is in the wrong place.

Myself and a few friends (all Sydenham residents) are interested in bringing back Sydenham Market. It's very early doors but to give it every chance of succeeding, we want to understand what people living in Sydenham want from the market.

So if you have one minute to spare, please help us out by filling in this survey.

We never personally experienced what the market was like when it was open, so if anyone has any info that would be useful for us – what was good/less good about it, please reply here.

Thanks in advance!

[Becrob]

A group tried to revive the market last year - leaflets were given to residents and there was a surveymonkey to ask what people would want to see so not sure if you are part of this group? I think the fb group is called Sydenham Farmers’ Market or something similar. Anyway, I would love to see a farmers’ mkt in sydenham! The link to your survey doesn’t seem to work...

[JMLF]

Completed!

[king]

Thanks for the info, I'm not part of that group – I know there was talk of the Golden Lion car park a few months back. I'll look into it and see if I can speak to anyone from that group.

Please try the link again, it definitely works as I've had a fair few responses so far:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/676N5HB

Thanks to all who've completed it so far, very helpful.

[Becrob]

Done! Not sure what happened when I tried the link the first time!

[KEVD]

Completed.

[Newtosydenham]

I would love to see a market in Sydenham! Any kind of food/ drink/ Craft stalls would be very welcome!

Just a thought but it may be worth having a chat with the people at Beckenham Place Park who runt the Foodie evenings (hot food stalls) there?

[JRW]

It would be a good use of an empty shop - Safeway's springs to mind..... Or better still, the kfh estate agents that still hasn't moved in at Cobb's corner. Undercover, it would be able to keep going in winter, which is important in building up regular trade. Can the council encourage such businesses to open up unused spaces which make Sydenham look in decline?

[stuart]

It would be a good use of an empty shop - Safeway's springs to mind

Yes that would be great, prominent and weatherproof. Reminiscent of the many everyday markets any small town can sport in France or Spain. Add a cafe ...

Stuart

[JMLF]

Obviously love this idea/plan. Think however it needs to be realistic. Anything indoor (excellent idea!) I feel would have to be something appropriate for the size/feel of the market - reflecting something like the Penge tout pop up which had a 1 year rental of a shop with a number of textile/art/gift sellers (I would guess between 6-10) around the size of on the hoof if you took out the bar. Or alternatively using a local business who are amenable and already have an open space (e.g.: Sunday at Ignition taproom?) which fits the market size/feel.

As far as I can see KFH are actively renting/moving in (though taking forever) so can’t see them happily letting people use it footloose and fancy free to spill food and drink all over their new carpets etc. The supermarket in my opinion is too big, filled with stuff (unsure if fixed shelves etc.) or movable and with KFH would require permissions, have increased costs with cleaning and perhaps other issues that I don’t know (health and safety?!) as not in the know about these things.

Those are my main thoughts on those ideas anyhow.

Filled out the survey with my thoughts and I hope that this happens at some point in the future !

[alywin]

Well, if it helps, here are a few of my gripes with the old market:

1) I thought it started too late. I have lots to do on a Saturday, none of them in the immediate vicinity, and am not going to hang around until getting on to midday for things to get going.

2) Being monthly. If you couldn't make it/forgot, you had to wait another month to go again.

3) Inconsistency of offering: you never knew what was going to be there from one month to the next. I lost count of the number of times I went down there intending to buy something specific, only to find that the stallholder wasn't there.

4) Empty stalls don't give a good impression.

5) When it expanded from Venner Square(?) into Queensthorpe, there was never anything up at Venner to tell you there were additional stalls down the road.

I think part of the problem was that most of the stallholders sold "occasional" items. So you'd go down there and spot something that might do very nicely for your friend's birthday in 6 months' time, but not be bothered about buying it there and then (unless you are hugely well organised and/or have plenty of storage space if it's big).

HTH

[Isha]

I would love to see a farmers market in Sydenham with regular weekly producers. Especially keen on organic fresh fruit and vegetables (i.e., Brockmans Farm Produce, Wild Country Organics, Brambletye Fruit Farm or any other local farmers).

[Bovine Juice]

The Penge Food Hub ( https://twitter.com/penge_food ) are worth checking out in short term while you're waiting for a more local presence. You order the farmer's and local artisan foods on their site then pick up (and have a pint) down the Goldsmiths on a Thursday night.

[sparticus]

Like this? https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=armst ... e&ie=UTF-8

[monkeyarms]

I think a farmer's market would work if you went all out: it's a shame that whoveritwas proposing one at the Golden Lion a year or two ago never got that going... a farmer's market needs a bit more space than those high-street squares. The food markets at Brockley/Lewisham and Brixton are excellent models for this.

Failing that, the 3-4 stall model at Venner Road could be revived, but I really think food and drink are the only stalls that would work and when I saw food and drink I'm thinking street-food/snacks rather than buying groceries. There clearly isn't a vast amount of footfall at Venner Rd; I think Queensthorpe might be better.

That said, I wonder if the owner of the detached building in between the estate agents and Venner Rd Hall might be amenable to providing electricity and perhaps some indoor space (to supplement outdoor stalls) for a modest fee on a regular basis?