WE usually go into York on Saturday and Wednesday, but we had a job to do which took us in on Friday, always a busy day when we were in retailing.

We always thought the move of the market from Parliament Street into Newgate was a mistake and walking through it, we found it lifeless and depressing.

It is not that people don't want the vibrancy of a busy market in York any more; it is that the natural outdoor meeting place established by countless generations has been taken and dropped into a little alcove away from where people like to congregate.

We love a busy market and, travelling abroad, we find that they do wherever we go.

Go to Beverley, Skipton, Northallerton, Wakefield, Ripon, Knaresbrough, Thirsk, Malton, Doncaster, Darlington, or even Pocklington and Easingwold, and you find the same in their main streets.

Covered-in markets are not the same and Newgate is halfway between a covered-in and an open market. Proper markets have people gathering to chat in groups and busy stallholders shouting their wares.

You know, like you see in Parliament Street on Farmers Market and Continental Market days.

We were part of the days when markets were worth going to. When the Simpsons, Johnsons, Challis, Snowdens, Hebdens of Easingwold, Browns of Haxby, Sid and Mabel Apedale, Pearl out of Petergate, Wrap-'em-up George, Maurice who lived with his mother on Bishopthorpe Road and countless farmers made it a proper market. One which every other place still has, and which the people of York still yearn for.

Steve Galloway, make a name for yourself. Restore York market to its proper home and keep Newgate for one-off events, outdoor eating, a decent superloo, bike stand and entertainment.

George Appleby,

Clifton, York.

Updated: 09:55 Wednesday, May 03, 2006