Following discussions with Cirencester Town Council, the decision has been made to cancel the Monday & Friday Charter, Arts & Crafts and Farmers Markets until further notice as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Despite putting measures in place to try and find a workable solution that would allow us to run the markets and adhere to Government Guidance on social distancing in the Market place, the priority needs to be the health of visitors, traders and events staff alike.

This has been a very difficult decision to make, that we realise will have an effect on people’s livelihoods; unfortunately, it is something that must be done to follow the Government directions and do the right thing.

We do not want the markets to become an excuse for at risk individuals to come out of their homes and into the town, where they are at an even greater risk.

Our thoughts are with you, as our traders, who rely on markets for your livelihood and understand the frustration. We all need to play our part, and by us stopping markets, we hope to contribute to how soon this will pass.

With regards to advanced payments made for the Cirencester Craft & Cirencester Farmers Markets, all payments have been frozen and will be used once the markets start-up again. This means that if you have paid for April’s craft market for instance, you will be able to use this payment for future dates once the market restarts.

As it stands, the food festival at the end of May is still going ahead, but this will be assessed closer to the time and we will inform all traders should the event need to be cancelled.

We will be monitoring the situation continuously and we will be back as soon as it is safe and responsible to do so. Thank you for your understanding in this extremely difficult time. We wish you all the absolute best, stay safe and we will hopefully see you soon.