Hear from Lisa York, the Markets and Street Trading Manager at East Street Market in Southwark. Lisa and her team have provided incredibly valuable support for the Rose Vouchers project since we launched in Southwark in 2018.
“I think the Rose Vouchers project is having a great impact on the local community. For families on low incomes to be able to come down and buy, on a daily basis, fresh fruit and vegetables for their children is a fantastic thing.
It’s encouraged young families to come into the market and spend their Rose Vouchers on fruit and vegetables but also shop on the other stalls. So everybody within East Street Market, all the traders, have benefited. It’s brought everyone together from this diverse community and the surrounding areas.
Throughout COVID we kept our essential traders, our fruit and veg traders, trading. There were only two weeks where they weren’t trading during the last 18 months. We’ve also seen an increase in new shoppers coming to the market who have been given vouchers throughout the pandemic.
Because of the Rose Vouchers project, the way the traders’ merchandise their stalls has changed. They have become very competitive with each other now but in a healthy way. They see this as a very good business model, so the better their stall looks, the more vouchers will be spent with them.
Before the Rose Voucher scheme was launched the traders didn’t work so well together. They’ve actually come together to make this scheme work, for themselves and for the local families.”