Could East Anglia's market towns save the region's economy? Angus Williams and Eleanor Pringle investigate.
Since the Middle Ages communities have relied on their local markets for essential goods and services.
Over time carts have given way to stalls, with urban areas creeping up around marketplaces and the reach of commerce spreading down modern-day high streets.
Although East Anglia’s plethora of market towns have withstood the test of time, the rise of the internet and the pandemic has pushed them to the brink.
However their part in the region’s economy is about to change once more, said Joe Faulkner, a director at KPMG.
Mr Faulkner, who works across KPMG’s East Anglian offices, said: “With the rise of work from home and hybrid working the role of the market town is going to become increasingly important.
"We expect footfall in market towns will rise as people head to shops in their local area instead of around their offices, so I suspect retail as well as education and service facilities will see demand increase.”
He was echoed by Anthony Breach, senior analyst at think-tank Centre for Cities, who said: “The overall direction is away from traditional retail and towards a more experience focused activity,”
But lines between city spending and rural reliance cannot be drawn as a line in the sand – the success of one is now reliant on the other, he added.
“One of the biggest determinants for how well a town does — not just in terms of its shopping, or in terms of its quality of life, but also its economic performance — is how close it is to a prosperous city.”
He explained: “City centres in particular seem to be places of really high value production — people working there are often in some of the most highly paid and productive work in the local area.
“If those people then live in nearby towns, and they spend some of their money on their local high streets in their town then the towns are benefitting from the prosperity that’s flowing out of the city in question.
“Conversely, the towns are providing workers and great places to live for the people who work in cities.
“So, there’s a really close relationship between the performance of cities and the quality of life in the towns as well,” he said.
One such town is Hadleigh, in Suffolk’s Babergh district, which has held markets since 1252.
Despite being a stone’s throw away from Ipswich, the town of 8,500 people is continuing to thrive thanks to its own identity, said mayor Frank Minns.
He said: “There is a strong sense of place here. People love the town. And they feel that they need to support what is on their doorstep. We’ve got a pretty vibrant collection of shops and a good variety — you don’t really need to leave Hadleigh for virtually anything now.
“You can still see queues outside the shops, particularly on a Saturday when it gets very busy.
“I think there’s a widespread feeling that we’ve got something precious here, which we don’t want to lose.”
Mr Minns said Hadleigh’s location close to the Dedham Vale tourist hotspot was something that the town could make more of.
“From the point of view of our businesses, it’s about trying to draw more people in,” he said.
Mr Minns believes the town’s weekly market is a key part of its attraction.
A scheme run by the district council allows people wanting to start a business to dip their toe in the water with a stall at Hadleigh market.
“It’s a really good thing,” Mr Minns said. “We had a new one last week and we’ve got a new one coming this week as well.”
Indeed, even towns which have fallen behind during the pandemic can benefit from a similar blueprint, said Guy Gowing, partner at estate agents Arnolds Keys.
He explained: “We’re still seeing good demand – but some locations are doing better than others. However even those which are not seeing the same levels of demand stand to benefit in the longer-term, because if there’s less demand then units become available more cheaply.
“As a result in these towns you might see an influx of more creative businesses – as we often do after a period of recession – because they can get their foot in the door where they otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”
The reasoning behind which towns may flourish and which might falter is simple: convenience.
Mr Gowing went on: “The towns with free parking are the ones which tent to fare better – it’s so simple but it does have a big impact.
“It’s not even necessarily down to having everything you need in one place either, it’s about serving the consumer you have the best. So in Cromer, Sheringham, Holt, places like that, you have loads of cafes because the type of footfall they have are day trippers who want a cup of tea. Other places have more retail or more service, it’s down to identifying what people want out of their market towns that makes them a success.”
And these changes in modern consumer behaviour need to be kept in mind when planning a market town fit for purpose in the future, said Dr Gordon Morris, a former civil servant and honorary research associate at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Rural Policy Research.
Town council’s concerns largely centred on “very local” issues and had not varied much since the early 1990s despite the impact of Covid, Dr Morris said.
“The car parking, the public loos, the park benches, and the bike racks,” he said. “But also some of the more higher-level stuff around planning.
“These are the things they believe they need to grab hold of, or be given control of.”
Mr Morris said his most recent research showed that town councils had these desires regardless of factors like party political allegiance or poverty in the town.
And, according to Mr Morris, Covid has further entrenched disparities within market towns.
“With the increase in the number of people working from home because of Covid small towns could well benefit.
“You’ve got young professional pretty well paid securely employed people on the one hand and on the other hand, probably equally comfortably off retired people — and towns could clearly benefit from capitalising on that — but at the same time you’ve got people relying on food banks or unable to afford accommodation.
“Councillors want to capitalise on the potential and do something about the disadvantage but believe they are forever hamstrung by the district council, the county council or the central government.”
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