Successful Monument Food Market is continuing this weekend

The monthly Monument Food Market will set up with about 25 stalls expected to be on site. The stalls are run mainly by artisan food traders with goods for sale including cheeses, bread, preserves, pies, quiches, honey, olive oil, brownies, cakes, speciality teas, a coffee stall and more.

There will be a few craft traders at the pop-up site too.

The market is free to attend. Trading will take place between 10am and 3pm on Saturday, August 21. The location is the car park of the Penshaw Masonic Hall on Station Road, just off the A183 Shiney Row roundabout.

The outdoor event has been organised by the Houghton-based Monument Coffee Company, who specialise as a pop-up coffee bar.

The markets have been running for over a year, having been set up as a covid safe event and a way to continue running local trade events within the Government’s coronavirus guidelines.

Marc Gordon, owner of the Monument Coffee Company, is very much looking forward to August's market. He explained how the events came about and how the number of stalls has increased.

He said: “As a coffee trader most of the events we attended last year were cancelled. We discovered food markets were allowed to run if you followed the guidelines, so we started our own and, along with 15 or so other food traders started in Penshaw in June 2020.”

The markets are arranged to take place on the third Saturday of the month. Trade has been decent too, with the previous market in July reporting brisk business.

The weather forecast for Saturday is for a cloudy but dry August day.

Anyone interested in opening a stall at the market scheduled for September 18, can see more details on the coffee company’s website where they can contact Marc.

A similar monthly outdoor market has been held at Albany Park in Washington; most recently on August 15 and has also been a success.

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