A long-standing Sunday market in Bristol is heralding a new dawn by making a commitment to fake-free trading by signing the Real Deal Charter with Bristol City Council’s Trading Standards service. Privately-owned company, Cotswold Markets, which operates at the wholesale fruit market venue in the St Philip’s Marsh area of the city, has recently introduced a strict ‘no counterfeits’ policy and is committed to changing the face of the market and upgrading the retail offering by attracting new traders selling good quality, genuine bargains.
The market is following in the footsteps of Bristol City Council’s St Nicholas Markets which signed the Real Deal Code of Practice in 2016. Together, they are part of a movement of over 500 markets across the country that have signed the voluntary Real Deal Charter with their local trading standards services to say ‘no’ to fakes.
Dave Joynes of privately-owned company Cotswold Markets, has been involved in the operation of the popular Sunday market at the wholesale fruit market venue in the St Phillip’s Marsh area of the city since its establishment 37 years ago. He said: “We are delighted to sign up to the Real Deal and we would like to thank Graham Mogg, the brands expert, for all his help and advice to get us on-board. Visitors to our market can shop knowing that what they spend their hard-earned cash on is legitimate, safe and value for money.
Traders at the Sunday market also support the new direction: Andy Pattison, Managing Director of A P Meats said: “We are pleased that Cotswold Markets are signing up to the Real Deal, it means shoppers can shop with confidence knowing every measure has been taken to ensure what the customer buys is genuine.”
Ijaz Chohan of I Go Sports said: “We are delighted that Cotswold Markets are signing up to the Real Deal. For ourselves, selling genuine sportswear since the Market opened in 1981, it protects our income and stops poor quality imitations coming on to the market.”
Welcoming the Sunday retail market into the Real Deal scheme, Cllr Kye Dudd, Cabinet member at Bristol City Council with responsibility for regulatory services, said: “We are pleased to support the commitment shown by the Market Operator to provide a safe and fair market in Bristol. It sends a clear message that traders selling counterfeit or illegal goods will not be tolerated. We will continue to support the market to thrive as a unique, interesting and safe shopping place for local people and visitors to Bristol.
“We are totally committed to actively encouraging quality products to be sold in Bristol. The sale of fake and illicit goods not only has a detrimental effect on the reputation of both the market and legitimate traders, they can impact on the reputation of the brands they sell and their customers by supplying both unsafe and incorrectly described goods.”
Graham Mogg, Chair of the National Markets Group for IP Protection, said: “The sale of counterfeit goods at Bristol Sunday Retail Market has had an adverse impact on consumers and legitimate businesses over many years. This milestone signing of the Real Deal charter is the result of some fantastic collaborative work over the last 12 months and I congratulate all concerned.”
Patricia Lennon, Real Deal Campaign Manager, said: “By signing the Real Deal Charter, markets can display the Real Deal logo, giving an assurance to shoppers and to market traders that they are in a fake-free zone. At the same time, it sends a clear signal to any would-be traders in counterfeit goods that they are not welcome.
“We would like to thank Cotswold Markets, the council’s market team, and the city’s trading standards service for working together over a sustained period to implement the Real Deal. It demonstrates that no matter how large or diverse a market’s offering, the Real Deal’s fake-free status can be achieved through partnership working between the market operator, trademark and copyright owners and trading standards.”