Took my Mum to Shrewsbury Market Hall. Always a good place for a wander. They won ‘Britain’s Favourite Market’ three years in a row between 2023-2025. The award organisers then decided that a hat-trick was enough and took them off the ballot for this year.
Nothing against the 2026 winner – South Molton Pannier Market in Devon. Yes, they are Britain’s favourite market in a field of runners not including Britain’s favourite market. But big, unwelcome shoes need filling by someone… and I now have a town on my map I’d never heard of.
Shrewsbury took it well. It’s a compliment when you win so often they ban you from entering. They were allowed to compete in the ‘Best Community Market’ class instead. Won it, naturally. Let’s see if they can go for the big one next year.
What’s special about Shrewsbury Market Hall? It surprises… for one. The 1960’s building promises little from the outside, being typically concrete and square. These structures should have been pulled down by now or had the angular edges clad with a soft refresh. This one hasn’t. But once you enter and climb up – the market hall occupies the upper floors – any scepticism disappears.
An open and well-lit space. 60-ish proud independent traders in collective harmony. You’d sense it if they weren’t. Fresh foods, craft stalls and the smell of coffee. For a flat white I recommend the Moroccan place on the north-east corner. Next to John Bliss Butchers, who’ve been here since the market opened in the mid 60s. Steve, the current butcher being the grandson of the founder. Lovely they honour the original name by keeping it.
That’s part of the charm of it right there. A proud, generational English family butchers next to a Moroccan family making a go of things in a new country.
Maybe that’s the winning formula.
Andrew Greenhalgh 