Thousands of people visited Chichester city centre on Sunday 7th November, for the city’s newest street market delivered by Chichester District Council as part of its campaign to support the high street.

As well as offering a variety of stalls, street food and children’s entertainment, ‘The Cross Market & More’, gave local students from Chichester and Brinsbury Colleges the chance to showcase and sell their products at the market. A group of college apprentices had been working on upcycling and completing unfinished student projects, such as small furniture items, and turning them into sustainable products to sell.

Cllr Alan Sutton, Cabinet Member for Housing, Communications, Licensing and Events at Chichester District Council, said “This is exactly the sort of destination market we wanted to bring people into the city centre, and the reaction from visitors and traders alike was superb. I spoke to lots of people, many of whom had travelled some distance to attend this event, including from Brighton, Surrey and Hampshire. Most of the stallholders, who were selling a range of products including crafts and gifts, food produce, beauty and homeware had sold out by the end of the day. Visitors also loved the flash mob of dancers from the college who appeared three or four times throughout the day.

“This truly was a fantastic event, and we would like to thank everyone for coming out and supporting it. The Council’s Events and Promotions Officer and our Farmers Market Coordinator worked really hard to pull this together and they were both extremely delighted with the response.”

Helen Loftus, Acting Principal at Chichester College, said: “Our students thoroughly enjoyed being given the opportunity to take part in such a brilliant community market. It was great to see so many of them taking part, showcasing their hard work and selling products they have made — as well as entertaining the visitors through flash mob performances, which brought a fantastic atmosphere to East Street.”