SUMMER fun days will be held at a market in a bid to bring footfall back to Basildon and boost the recovery from Covid-19.

After being closed for the majority of the pandemic, Basildon Market is set to a host of series of events to entice families to return and splash the cash at market stalls.

The market is hoping the fun days will be a huge celebration of the return of markets as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted as the country moves into the later stages of the pandemic.

Basildon Market will be hosting fun days from when schools break up for the summer term in July and across the month of August.

Anthony Hedley,who is chairman of Basildon Council’s Regeneration and Economic Development Committee, said: “In the final year of Go Trade, the support this project gives our markets will be invaluable in helping them recover and evolve.

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“With our markets back open and shoppers returning, it’s great that plans for activities and events to encourage footfall in a safe and managed way are already in progress.

“We want our markets to be busy and our traders and shoppers safe.”

The market is pushing for as much interest as possible with the help of the Go Trade project, which will be running until March 2022.

The project is funded with €3.8 million from the EU-funded Interreg France (Channel) England Programme and looks to boost the economy from visitors through traditional markets.

The project has found success across the Thames in Gravesend Borough Market in northern Kent, where permanent food traders have continued to operate throughout the pandemic as takeaway services.

In-person services resumed a few weeks ago but moving forward, the return of more themed markets and event days is being planned.

This includes Vinyl record fair and vegan markets which were started through the Go Trade project.

More information on the fun days in Basildon Market will be announced nearer the time.

For more information about the project, which first started in 2017, visit www.gotrade-markets.eu.