Market offers growth to our businesses, say traders

Traders operating out of dozens of refitted shipping containers as part of an outdoor market said the space has given their small businesses a chance to grow.

Kiera Morel, who owns a knitting and crochet company called Crafty Llama, has recently moved into her first retail space in St Saviour's Yard, Norwich, and hoped to be open in the new year.

After starting her business during Covid, when she said there was a boom in people trying knitting and crocheting, she was ready to move into face-to-face selling and engage with a new customer base.

"I really would like to build a sense of community, I think it's quite difficult to do that online," she said.

St Saviour's Yard, which was originally due to open in the autumn, is made up of 63 container units in the former council car park on Magdalen Street.

Norwich City Council said 60 of the units had tenants and 26 were now open for business.

The shopping area has been built while the Anglia Square shopping centre undergoes redevelopment.

Ms Morel said she started her crafting business five years ago, adding that knitting and crochet has become "more trendier" amongst young people with celebrities such as Tom Daley transforming balls of wool.

"Often with online it's quite difficult to recommend products and talk people through everything.

"Realistically for small businesses like us it's really difficult to find a space in the city and afford a space in the city.

"These are really affordable spaces, I think [they] give small businesses a chance we wouldn't otherwise get," she said.

Sir Toby's Beers has opened a new space at St Saviour's Yard, alongside having a stall on Norwich Market.

Co-owner, Toby Westgarth said: "It's a bit of a home from home from our market stall. It's about the same size, we don't want anything too big.

"We have been tracking the project for many years, we truly believe in not just the use of the space but the area too."

While Norwich Market is made up of 40 food stalls, at St Saviour's Yard the craft beer shop is one of a minority of traders amongst a site populated by artists and creators.

He said: "We were really happy to get the nod. There aren't many of us food and drink traders, there's only four of us, so it's a nice, special feeling to get accepted.

"We feel like we're guests here," he said.

He added the new space would be "healthy competition" for the market and thought the two could "coexist".

Artist Lauren Pincher hoped having a space at St Saviour's Yard would help develop her work and lead to more commissions for her business Pinch Paints.

"Freedom to grow really. I've been working from home for the past three years, which obviously has been lovely, but I've outgrown my spare bedroom," she said.

She added the benefits of St Saviour's Yard included its flexibility, as the space cost £300 per month including bills.

"I want to see where this goes... this is going to allow me to do that without having to commit financially into really long contracts. It's a really important space for very small businesses like me.

"There are lots of people in the arts community who have various disabilities, visible or not and I wanted this to be a welcoming space for everyone else, as well as very practical for me," she added.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.