Market Place: Newark
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Your support makes all the difference.The remnants of the Nottinghamshire minefields may be scarcely outside the town's boundaries, but the focal point of Newark has always been its market square. This glorious mish-mash of Victorian, Georgian and medieval architecture has evolved around its precursor, the market, which is now held three days a week.
Among the usual welter of clothes stalls that congregate on the cobbles, there's a strong line in haberdashery. But you'll also find plenty of fresh produce: plants from local nurseries, cheese, fish and vegetables. 'Mrs Potter's perfect pork' stall is a relatively new addition. Trudy Potter rears her pigs free- range; porkers are fed milk from her Jersey cow. But moist sentimentality has not overwhelmed the business: witness the flavour of the pork, prune and spinach sausages.
Of late, Newark Council has become keen to attract tourists. The inside of the old Butter Market has been prettified and divided into units, with a few kitsch market barrows along the central corridor. Needless to say, most local food traders have shunned it; shops selling expensive fashion goods have moved in. But it redeems itself on Wednesday with one of Newark's gems: the Women's Institute stall. Here, homemade means homemade - pies, pickles, jam, and, the other week, a masterful gooseberry and strawberry tart.
Outside, the market thumbs its nose at the town's image-makers: vendors have traded on this patch of land for 800 years or more and are yet to start selling trinkets to trippers. Stalls like the 'bra bar' (with its 38DDs wafting in the wind) may prove harder to landscape than slagheaps at a disused colliery.
Newark Market, Notts; Wed, Fri and Sat
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