A RETAIL market in Maldon has been granted two more year’s lease to continue trading to the public.

The market in Butt Lane, which is held on Thursdays and Saturdays, has been granted additional lease to continue trade until August 2018 in the council's planning decision list release last week.

The announcement is good news for the market, as Maldon District Council demanded in August last year that improvements needed to be made in order to keep the market running.

Currently, only Terry Frost holds a jewelry and watch stall on the Saturday market, but has said the council were impressed with the growth of the Thursday market – now consisting of 12 stalls – and the loyal customer base his Saturday stall received.

Terry said: “I and the other stall holders were extremely pleased when the council decided to grant us two more years in the car park.

“Whilst I may be the only person trading on a Saturday, I still manage to get several regular customers seen to, and have built up a loyal base who have said they’d be very sad to see me leave.

“We’ve had representatives from the council pop down and see us from time to time in the past few months, and they seemed very pleased with the progress the Thursday market had made.”

The 12 stalls at the Thursday market included fruit and veg, plants, stationary, house cleaning products, gluten free baking and other food products, with guest sellers visiting on occasion.

Mr Frost is undeterred by competition from big towns such as Chelmsford and Braintree, and is confident that business will continue to grow and vary in Maldon.

He added: “Plenty of people do shop in the bigger towns, but that generally happens at Christmas time.

“Our sellers are increasing their trade here and the population of Maldon is growing, so with our future set for the time being, we’re in an excellent position. It’s great that the area has such a variety of retailers wanting to pitch up here.”