Fore Street celebrates first successful flea market

On Sunday 18th September the Fore Street Collective hosted their very first Fore Street Flea Market, an event that saw the street closed to traffic to make way for a wonderful array of stalls and activity.

The local West Quarter traders took their chance to spread their wares on to the street, with many of the shops opening additional Sunday hours to capture the swarms of regular and new customers exploring the area. Long standing Fore Street favourite The Real McCoy specially hosted one of their legendary £1 yard sales, filling the McCoy’s arcade with hoards of happy bargain hunters.

Owner of No Guts No Glory Hayley Maker said: “the success of the first ever Fore Street Flea shows that it's time we really celebrated the diversity and unique area that is the West Quarter. The atmosphere was wonderful and bought a lot of new faces to the area. We had a great range of traders from vintage to portrait artist. It was a perfect mix to compliment the existing indie businesses and cafes. The next event is filling up fast with only a handful of spaces left! It's a free event, child friendly and people can satisfy their Sunday bargain hunting, whilst sipping coffee and grabbing a bite from one of the great local cafes!”

From midday hundreds of people descended into this part of the City, enjoying rummaging through the second hand and vintage clothes, homewares and gifts all presented on the street. The sun shone throughout, and visitors flocked to sit outside and enjoy the local produce offered up by food vendors, including Polly Nostimo’s Little Greek Food Truck.

The event was assisted by the Exeter BID, who made the road closure possible for the day. Fore Street BID representative Mattie Richardson said “We’re really proud to have introduced a new event to the city’s calendar which celebrates community and repurposing. It was lovely to see Fore Street being taken back by the traders and residents of the street.”

The next event will take place on Sunday 27th November, 12pm to 4pm, and will again be offering up a vast variety of stalls from traders and local people to enjoy on the day. There will be the much anticipated addition of Velveteen’s Cocktail Caravan and music provided from the Music in Devon Initiative. Organisers are hoping to make the Flea a quarterly event, so keep your eyes peeled for dates in the new year.

For more information regarding these events please contact forestreetflea@gmail.com, or join us on https://www.facebook.com/TheWestQuarter, and instagram.com/indieexeter.