ONE year on from its launch, North Parade farmers’ market in Oxford is continuing to breathe new life into the area.

The monthly market was resurrected last October by Labour city councillor James Fry and businesses in the area.

On Saturday, October 26, the street will again be filled with traders as it celebrates a successful first year.

The market is operated by a charity and money raised by the market goes towards improving North Parade, off Banbury Road.

The charity committee hopes to get a band in the street to kick festivities off.

Debbie Hall, landlord of the Rose and Crown, along with her husband Andrew, have been part of the market’s revival from the start.

Mrs Hall said: “It has been absolutely wonderful. We have been hit with bad weather over the past year. It seems it is always worse on the fourth weekend of the month, but despite that we are still really busy.

“It is so nice because there are a lot of big houses around here and people didn’t always know others in the area but you see people now during the market talking to each other.

“My husband and I moved here 30 years ago and it was totally different – there was a post office, a hardware store, bookshops. It was like a little village – they all either left or closed down and the street became very quiet.

“But now it is so busy. We think we must get about two or three times the number of customers in the pub on market day.”

She added that the committee was also considering applying to the city council to increase the size of the market.

Caroline Casey, who manages the traders, said: “It has been a fantastic past year. Each month we are getting between 800 to 1,000 people attending.

“There are, on average, 23 traders attending each market – a mixture of food producers and craft producers – and the majority are from Oxfordshire.

“The day should be really fun. It is a great street for a market.