Western Daily Press (Saturday)
FARMERS IN FINAL FAREWELL TO TOWN’S LIVESTOCK MARKET
The final sale was made this week at Shaftesbury livestock market which is being replaced by a Lidl. Chief reporter Alex Ross went along to find out what the market has meant to the town and the farmers it has attracted down the years
AS a young boy in his tweed suit, Bill Bown would sit on the wooden pens overlooking cattle which had been fattened on the slopes of Dorset being hoarded into Shaftesbury’s livestock market.
It was a way of farming life Thomas Hardy would have known well.
But on Thursday, Mr Bown, now aged 81, had a tear in his eye as he watched the Limousins, Angus and Hereford cattle being sold off for the final time at Shaftesbury’s market.
The proud market site off Christy’s Lane is to be sold off by North Dorset District Council to supermarket chain Lidl.
Out with tradition, in with the times.
“The market has been part of my life since I remember - no-one wants to see it go,” said Mr Bown, as he stood in a large shelter with the cattle before they go for sale in front of the waiting punters.
“I went to the market in the town centre when I was six and then when it moved here 60 years ago I’ve been here since. I can’t believe it is going.”
Mr Bown helped his grandfather at his farm in Fonthill Gifford near Salisbury before becoming a dairy farmer in East Stour himself and then an artificial inseminator. He also worked as a yard man at the market for 20 years.
He is just one of dozens of farmers whose lives intertwined with the town’s market.
At the centre point to the market is the straw-carpeted ring, which is surrounded by decked seating going a dozen-or-so tiers high.
But it is around the metal gated ring where the serious business happens.
Farmers lean over, inspecting the cattle in front of them, winking and nodding at auctioneer Iain Soutar whose voice rings around the Colosseum-like place through a makeshift sound system.
It feels like the only item here which is younger than 20 years old.
The rusting weighing scales overlook the ring, advertising signs are peeling from the walls and the upstairs canteen hasn’t changed in
I first came with my great uncle. The market attracts good cows and
there is usually a good crowd. The market loss is
a shame
TONY SLADE (LEFT)
years. Yes, the place has aged - but like the old farmers chewing the fat around the ring, the market is full of charm.
Ring master Norman Croft waddles back and forth, nudging the cattle with his stick.
Most of his life he has worked at the market, like his father before him and his son Jake, aged 27.
He said: “You never stop here. I guess that’s why I like it.”
Kelly Arnold also works at the auction.
She is busy herding cattle into the ring and sometimes joins them inside to move them round.
The 24-year-old said: “Most people here have been coming here all their lives.
“This is a real town business.” Watching on from outside the ring is farmer Tony Slade, from Sutton Mandeville. He buys some Hereford cattle.
“It is such as shame to see it go,” he said.
“Like a lot of people here, I’ve been coming here all my life.
“But because of the rent, the auctioneer has had to move off, and now we’re getting a supermarket.”
In the seating area looking down on the ring, beef farmer Chris Hatch talks to a friend over a sandwich.
He said: “What’s changed about this place - nothing.
“I first came with my great uncle, and I still come along today.
“The market attracts good cows and there is usually a good crowd. The market loss is a shame.”
The market has been off Christy’s Lane since 1955, and run by Southern Counties Auctioneers since 1967. But the auctioneer is now concentrating on its Salisbury livestock auction.
Mr Soutar blames rising rents from the district council and a reduction in cattle being sold from the site. On its final day, there are 47 lots listed.
Starting the auction, he described it as a “very sad day”.
Afterwards he said: “Yes, it wasn’t nice, but then we had a very good last day that seemed to be enjoyed by all.
“There was a good number of entries and a good crowd with decent prices. I hope to see the same faces in Salisbury.”
As well as cattle, the auctioneers sold off dozens of items from the market itself, including the cattle scale and pens.
Harold Ablitt, 65, is a cattle farmer on the Isle of Wight. He came along only to see out the market.
He said: “Shaftesbury is one we have never been to and so when we heard it was going, I decided I wanted to come along.
“We are farmers and use markets to determine the price of cattle in the region.
“But they are also more than that. I enjoy the atmosphere and the meeting of fellow farmers. It is really sad to see it go.”
So what next?
North Dorset District Council agreed to the sale of the site to Lidl last April. Despite protests from the local community, including the town’s civic society, it has gone through.
Councillor Michael Roake, the council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “A new supermarket for the town will attract more visitors to Shaftesbury, boosting the economy and creating more jobs.
“We’ve continued to process the sale of the site and are hopeful of completing this in the near future.”