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High Road Food Markets

LRA Farmers MarketLRA started Sunday Farmers Markets in July 2002, which were organised for many years by Hughmark, then latterly by Essex Farmers Market. On the second Sunday of every month, residents found a wide range of stalls in Loughton High Road opposite The Last Post pub selling a range of foods direct from the producers. Those who came along were delighted that this regular space gave them the opportunity to meet each other.

Just before the Covid pandemic the organiser closed down because of illness. Then with associated pandemic lockdowns from 2020, the market was unable to be restarted.

Eventually, the District Council formed a new markets policy and licensing procedure which took effect from October 2022. The LRA-led Town Council then decided to step in, and it has now become the relevant authority for markets in Loughton.

The Town Council then decided to grant a licence to Hughmark to run the market, which is expected to be weekly on the High Road.


Update 4 August 2025
The Town Council had hoped to have weekly Food Markets on the High Road by now, and had applied for the necessary approvals from Essex Highways and the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) to reserve the parking spaces along Centric Parade for traders’ vehicles on Saturday evenings/Sunday mornings to enable the markets to take place.

Since submitting the original application form to Essex Highways, the Council was passed from pillar to post with three different County Council departments disclaiming responsibility, before they were eventually passed to the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) and then submitting another NEPP application form.

NEPP has also now effectively blocked the way forward as they say parking suspensions are for temporary requirements and not for consistent weekly arrangements, and they subsequently quoted associated costs that made the market not cost effective.

The Town Council has tried to get both Essex Highways and NEPP to come up with a compromise and way forward, but to no avail, so the Council are no longer pursuing a weekly market.

The process of Local Government reform starting and the associated uncertainty has not helped the cause, and the Council will revisit this again in 2028 when hopefully new levels of authority are in place.

This is a most disappointing outcome and has been most frustrating for the Town Council and for LRA, which was the driving force behind the previous Farmers Markets and had helped to set the new arrangements in motion.

Read The Town Clerk's full report here (PDF, from p4)