The Farmers Mart Feb-Mar 2020 - Issue 67 | Page 14

14 HEADINGLEY FARMERS MARKET Headingley Farmers’ Market has been held every month for over fourteen years on the Rose Garden. It provides a community focus as well as where people can buy good quality food from local Yorkshire producers. It is held every second Saturday in the month, from 9.00 am to 12.30 pm. People young and old from all communities come for the atmosphere, friendship and to buy quality produce for the week or just for the weekend. Everything is produced to the highest standard and most of it from Yorkshire. Headingley Enterprise and Arts Centre (HEART) opened in 2011 in the old Bennett Road primary school building, which was completely refurbished and extended. It has certainly helped the market by being close by and really is an extra driver of this community project. It is one of the most successful community project in the country. It has rehearsal and FEB/MAR 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk meeting spaces, training rooms, a café with outdoor and conservatory seating areas, and a business centre on the first floor particularly targeted at the arts and media industry. Today the success of the whole project is remarkable, the housing stock is being reversed from HMO,S to single and family occupancy, there are now many independent shops cropping up. The Headingley Greengrocer became HDT’s latest venture, when they stepped in to buy the business in April 2019 from R K Harris and Son who were retiring after running it for over 40 years. The site has been a greengrocer’s shop for over 100 years. Interest in this, local butchers and the community owned Natural Food Storehas certainly been driven by the vibrancy and success of Headingley Farmers Market. The market is an enterprise of Headingley Development Trust, a locally owned enterprise. It is managed and organised by a group of volunteers. They appoint a paid site co-ordinator and a group of young people who erect and dismantle the stalls - providing food that the community wants – so that people can do full a full range of food shopping at the market. It is accredited by FARMA, is the winner of FARMA’s Community Spirit Award 2011 and of the Yorkshire Life “Best Farmers Market” 2011 in its prestigious Yorkshire Food and Drink awards. Please read on and see the profiles of the many of the Stall Holders and how they in turn have thrived by forging strong links with their immediate farming community. We will see a variety of these businesses in the next issue of Farmers Mart as well. Contact them on: [email protected]