Memory Lane Roots Hall Market

[AndyT]

Good g_d. I had reasons to visit the ground this morning.

Being an East Bank snob who shopped exclusively at Bolingbroke & Wenley and latterly, John Lewis, I haven't had cause to visit Roots Hall Market for some time, but today my chauffeur dropped me off to collect my ticket for Saturday and it just happened to coincide with market day.

I say market day, but more a couple of vans and a trestle table or two.

Is Roots Hall Market really this bad? .. I recall times when it was rammed to the rafters and, indeed, have some old video footage of this, but today was barren and, frankly, a bit sad. :sad:

So, is this normal for a Thursday or does it pick up?

I'm guessing the 99p shops have ruined market trading, in general, but to this extent surprised me, TBH.

 

[C C Csiders]

Good g_d. I had reasons to visit the ground this morning.

Being an East Bank snob who shopped exclusively at Bolingbroke & Wenley and latterly, John Lewis, I haven't had cause to visit Roots Hall Market for some time, but today my chauffeur dropped me off to collect my ticket for Saturday and it just happened to coincide with market day.

I say market day, but more a couple of vans and a trestle table or two.

Is Roots Hall Market really this bad? .. I recall times when it was rammed to the rafters and, indeed, have some old video footage of this, but today was barren and, frankly, a bit sad. :sad:

So, is this normal for a Thursday or does it pick up?

I'm guessing the 99p shops have ruined market trading, in general, but to this extent surprised me, TBH.

it may have been a couple of vans and a trestle table or two to you but to some poor North Korean that is a veritable cornucopia of capitalist excess.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Good g_d. I had reasons to visit the ground this morning.

Being an East Bank snob who shopped exclusively at Bolingbroke & Wenley and latterly, John Lewis, I haven't had cause to visit Roots Hall Market for some time, but today my chauffeur dropped me off to collect my ticket for Saturday and it just happened to coincide with market day.

I say market day, but more a couple of vans and a trestle table or two.

Is Roots Hall Market really this bad? .. I recall times when it was rammed to the rafters and, indeed, have some old video footage of this, but today was barren and, frankly, a bit sad. :sad:

So, is this normal for a Thursday or does it pick up?

I'm guessing the 99p shops have ruined market trading, in general, but to this extent surprised me, TBH.

Times have changed. Now you can get really cheap clothes in the High Street. We have 4 discount shops that I know of. So we can now get cheap snacks/food, ironmonger stuff, health&beauty, household goods. All the sorts of things that were sought after in a market. This among a few other things has killed the Roots Hall market. In highly populated places where there are not so many of these type of shops, Wembley is the best example I can think of, a market can absolutely thrive.
For those interested to know how big and busy the Roots Hall market was, look in the 'Old Photo's Of Southend' thread, page 38(second from last) post 569. Well worth a watch.

 

[AndyT]

MO, 'SNB'.

I thought that the High Streets would have had a say, but if you take other markets in the area, like say Rayleigh High Street on a Wednesday, they still seem to be quite popular.

I'll have a look at those old photos, in a moment.

 

[AndyT]

I'm back and I had missed that video. Just seen it. Wonderful stuff! :thumbsup:

 

[AndyT]

When I was a kid, we often used to go to the market and I remember parking up behind the South Bank in those days, as the main car park was mobbed with stalls.

I'm sure there's an aerial photo, posted on the 'old photos' thread, of the market in full flow.

 

[SeaSideDoughnut]

"The enterprising Southend United have made a start on the road to financial suability’ - we must have taken a wrong turn...

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

When I was a kid, we often used to go to the market and I remember parking up behind the South Bank in those days, as the main car park was mobbed with stalls.

I'm sure there's an aerial photo, posted on the 'old photos' thread, of the market in full flow.

Page 17, post 255 of the 'Old photo's of Southend' thread. Click on it. Now you see it, now you don't. Also, at the start you can see where the car park was that you mentioned behind the South Bank.

 

[RHB]

A fair number of stalls that used to be at Roots Hall are now pitched in Southend high street on a Thursday.

 

[ozzie]

went there august 2015,very sad......but i was even sadder...went and bought myself a 2 liter bottle of cider,then sat in the North bank drinking it all,thinking of the good old market days!!
No,thinking about the good old North bank days

 

[Suffolk Blue]

I used to work a lot of the local markets. Roots Hall on a Thursday was among the best around; probably 200 or more stalls selling everything under the sun. The players often came over to the market to buy clobber off of Mick the Brutus Man whose pitch was opposite mine. There's not much life left in markets now; butchers and greengrocers probably do ok but the days of taking a couple of grand on a Thursday selling dodgy Capodimonte figures and china Shire Horses are gone and never to return.

 

[AndyT]

Page 17, post 255 of the 'Old photo's of Southend' thread. Click on it. Now you see it, now you don't. Also, at the start you can see where the car park was that you mentioned behind the South Bank.

That's the one.

Taken around 1980, I would say, at a guess.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I just asked my friend on the phone who used to have a stall there. He said one of the reasons it died was because they started charging for parking. The market lost half its trade. They reinstalled no charge for parking, but it was too late, the damage had been done.

 

[AndyT]

Slightly side-tracking, but does anyone remember the market they used to have on the corner of Elmer Approach, where the University is now. The site opposite where you would queue around the corner for Odeon 2, back in the day?

If so and I'm sure the same stall was at RH market, there was a huge stall where a couple of fellas would run an auction, almost. Certainly a 2 for 1 type thing that would then become 3 for 1, until people stuffed their hands up. Used to have loads of people bidding for all kinds of stuff. Was great entertainment! :thumbsup:

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Slightly side-tracking, but does anyone remember the market they used to have on the corner of Elmer Approach, where the University is now. The site opposite where you would queue around the corner for Odeon 2, back in the day?

If so and I'm sure the same stall was at RH market, there was a huge stall where a couple of fellas would run an auction, almost. Certainly a 2 for 1 type thing that would then become 3 for 1, until people stuffed their hands up. Used to have loads of people bidding for all kinds of stuff. Was great entertainment! :thumbsup:

I remember it well. The market and the auction stall. My friend Jerry the swell was one of the auctioneers with all the spiel and gift of the gab. Very entertaining. I think Bruce Franks owned the auctions at first, and then Victor Misell. They would go to a different market each day of the week in Essex and East London. They also did the auction on the seafront next to Mr B's, might have been when Mr B's was called Olympia. Another friend, Market Dave, had a good women's wear stall that was very popular in that Southend market.

 

[AndyT]

went there august 2015,very sad......but i was even sadder...went and bought myself a 2 liter bottle of cider,then sat in the North bank drinking it all,thinking of the good old market days!!
No,thinking about the good old North bank days

I think that's a great way to spend an afternoon.

Weird that I actually pictured you doing that, with the terracing, crush barriers and EJ "Teddy" Grant sign still there, which of course could not have been the case in 2015.

 

[AndyT]

I remember it well. The market and the auction stall. My friend Jerry the swell was one of the auctioneers with all the spiel and gift of the gab. Very entertaining. I think Bruce Franks owned the auctions at first, and then Victor Misell. They would go to a different market each day of the week in Essex and East London. They also did the auction on the seafront next to Mr B's, might have been when Mr B's was called Olympia. Another friend, Market Dave, had a good women's wear stall that was very popular in that Southend market.

That was them! :thumbsup::cool:

The old classic lines "Real authentic Barbie Dolls, these. You won't get these for less than a fiver in the High Street, so who'll give me £3.50 then!?" .. I'm not sure if it was more of a Dutch Auction, but either way, the crowds around the stall were massive.

 

[ozzie]

I think that's a great way to spend an afternoon.

Weird that I actually pictured you doing that, with the terracing, crush barriers and EJ "Teddy" Grant sign still there, which of course could not have been the case in 2015.

i had a few beers before my "cider"..sadly alone sitting alone in the "PAK"..i started to think about all our old songs....ended up sitting alone whispering them to mates & players long gone....but i did enjoy doing it...mucking sad,but true

 

[Mad Cyril]

Moon boots and those aprons that doubled as money belts.

Butchers on the mic whipping the crowd into a frenzy before knocking out a load of dodgy freezer packs.

 

[colonelnutter]

Used to be a stall that sold second hand jazz mags. Good value but tricky steaming the pages apart.