Market Place

Wherever you are in the world you can be sure of finding a street or indoor market, some of them with such famous reputation that they have become major tourist attractions.
You’ll probably not rate the three times a week market in the Hampshire town of Romsey as that grand, but nevertheless it is widely recognised locally and I count myself among a loyal regular band on the look-out for bargains.
But then, I have always been fascinated by the entire philosophy of either open air or permanent indoor markets.  In other parts of the world they may be called a bazaar, or known as a souk or the familiar Spanish Mercado. In France you’ll find everything from clothes to jewellery as well as produce and food or fish in the market place in even the smallest towns.
One market I visited in Tokyo was devoted almost entirely to electrical and electronic goods, and another in Seoul was held at night with the widest range of goods for sale that you could imagine. Another in a shoe-making  city in Italy was a regular Saturday market where you could be sure to find the latest in styles. And then of course there is the glorious and picturesque flower market of Nice on the Mediterranean.
So what is it that attracts us to markets?  Maybe it all stems from the earliest forms of trading.  Flea markets or swap meets are geared to selling or swapping anything from antiques to what might appear to be household junk in much the same way as established car boot sales have become established .
It is said that some of the big store names of today started out in life as a stall or a barrow.
Romsey’s market may be small in comparison, but its history is well established.

King Henry I granted Romsey its first charter which allowed a market to be held every Sunday, and a four-day annual fair in May. In the 13th century, Henry III permitted an additional fair in October. From small beginnings . . .