Market Place: Louth
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Your support makes all the difference.It's 10am and the Wednesday auction at Louth has already begun. Tweed flat caps bob hither and thither as their owners jostle for position. Meat kicks off the proceedings: partridge, rabbit, pig's fry - raw and ready for the pot. The auctioneer doesn't need to bellow as Cornmarket, with its venerable buildings forming three sides of a small rectangle, seems acoustically designed. During the day he will progress through an array of plants on to the produce of Lincolnshire's fertile soil: carrots the size of a toddler's arm, moon-faced swedes and, of course, potatoes. Later still comes a farrago of junk. There's usually at least one hulking Seventies computer, wrecks of bikes, electrical leads that lead nowhere, and a procession of toasters. An innocent once asked whether there was a guarantee. The reply: 'I'll guarantee it's a toaster.'
Just off Cornmarket, the new market hall is where to find two of Lincolnshire's local delicacies: stuffed chine (cured forequarters of pig stuffed with parsley), and plum bread.
There's a sense of occasion on Wednesdays. Friends meet, the pubs do good business, stalls spill onto Market Place. But how long Louth will remain a consummate market town is in question. Work to create a 'Georgian street scene' using cobbles (liked by tourists but not local people with disabilities) is already under way, and the council is fighting plans for a nearby supermarket.
Returning to the auction, a curious collection came up for bidding a while back: a toilet seat, a pair of Wellington boots and a rubber mat 'to stop you slipping . . . Who'll give me 10p for the lot?'
Louth Market, Cornmarket, Lincolnshire; 9am-4pm Wed, Fri, Sat; auction 10am Wed
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