Morley’s market stalls to become regular fixture in Lower Marsh

Morley College has been trialling the market stall once a month for the past year as part of the 'Portas Pilot' scheme to boost the economic vitality of Waterloo's main shopping streets.

Since the first stalls were introduced last Christmas, more 60 Morley students have had the opportunity to try their hand at selling goods on the market and have taken more than £1,500 in sales.

The adult education college has also launched a range of enterprise courses designed to help potential entrepreneurs to create, launch and grow their own businesses.

These include a course in street market tading, which covers everything from practical issues such as licensing, legislation, insurance and traders' associations and a Q&A session with an experienced market trader, before hitting the market with their own merchandise.

One of the students taking part earlier this month was Richard Monahan, 35, who runs Lost Property, a reclaimed menswear business.

He said of the experience: "It was a very good day! I was starting to lose faith in what I was doing and the enterprise courses have helped put the a spark back into 'Lost Property'. Thank you to my tutor for staying out in the cold with me until the bitter end!"

Morley College says it now intends to increase its presence on Lower Marsh with the new branded stalls and to double the number of students able to take advantage of trading opportunities in the market.