Saltwell Park

Saturday saw my return to Urban Park Market's monthly food, drink and crafts market in Gateshead's Saltwell Park. This is a regular, two day market that takes place on the first weekend of the month between April and October. This is one of my most regular events for 2025 and a real favourite.

Throughout the week I had been keeping a close eye on the weather as things weren't looking great for outdoor trading in a park! The are pros and cons with any trading venue and a park is no exception. The main issue is footfall, if it's raining why would you go to a park to consume delicious food and drink while browsing the independent craft stalls? The answer is you wouldn't. So it was with slight trepidation that I prepared the van on Friday night!

Now, did it rain, yes but not a lot and nowhere near what had been forecast. There was only one notable downpour that didn't last too long and gave me the opportunity to chat to two lovely customers who took shelter under my serving hatch until it had subsided.

Bass Notes Coffee van in Saltwell Park, Gateshead

Did I have a good day? Yes, I did. I got to catch up with fellow traders and chew the fat on recent trading events both good and bad, this is always really useful intel when planning for next year. I also got to eat some delicious food and of course chat to my customers. How were the numbers for the day? Better than I expected but had the weather forecasters been more accurate then footfall would have been higher which generally equals more sales.

Now I could have bailed and stayed at home but it's important to show up. To support our fellow entrepreneurs that create these opportunities for us to trade at and for our customers who show up even in bad weather to support us. These markets bring quality independent traders to local communities, challenging those high street, often multinational chains and remind people that independents are at least equal to if not better than them.