We are attempting to expand the market down Union Street as I have mentioned before but it’s very difficult. There is a need for more stall space.

This week sees the Swan Inn being scaffolded which means moving the Olive Stall and The Artisan Baker’s bread and truffle stalls to somewhere else, but at whose expense? There are no empty spaces so I’m relying on fate to create space through holidays and other absences; God forbid, I’ve never had to tell any trader they can’t come but it is getting close to that.

Change of users in the surrounding shops also creates issues for us in terms of negotiating for stall spots.

For example the disability shop has been empty for some time and that has meant two stall spaces on Saturdays.

When a new user takes on the lease that will reduce to one space, again begging the question where the stall losing their pitch will be relocated to?

Union Street, below the organic vegetables, is empty and provides our only option but it has a few issues that make it difficult.

For a start off it is very slopey, in that classic Stroud way, which means getting the tables level will be tricky. Then there is the fact that there a lot of people hanging around in the disused pub garden which has made the stalls that have traded down there over the summer, Crow’s Nest soups and Velo Bakery Pizza oven, uncomfortable as people are walking through the back of their stall all the time.

Then there is the issue of that area being “off the main drag” with many people not venturing that far down Union Street.

The last problem is the sheer logistical nightmare of getting vehicles down to those stalls for unloading and packing away.

All in all it’s something we’re going to have to try out and develop if it seems feasible.

This week should see the return of Velo Bakery and Crow’s Nest who will be down there together for the first time.

I will await their response before deciding whether other stalls down there would work.