WOODLEY town centre bosses have announced that the artisan market will continue to trade in the town during the new lockdown.

In an announcement released earlier today (January 5), the Woodley Town Centre announced: "The latest lockdown restrictions allow outdoor markets to operate selling essential goods only.

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"The weekly Wednesday market will therefore go ahead on January 6, from 9am to 2pm under these conditions."

Brian Fennelly, Woodley Town Centre manager, said: "The lockdown is not too surprising really, its what we expected - its a serious situation and we've got to get over it so I understand why we've got to do it [lockdown].

"Since the beginning of the lockdown we have been making sure the town centre is as safe as possible for visitors, so we've had lots of signage up and we've made sure the markets are laid out in a Covid-secure way with a good distance between stalls, and at each market we have a manager that watches out.

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"We eased off a bit in the late summer but as things got more strict again we've just had to reinforce the rules.

"Quite a lot of our traders aren't able to trade as non-essential things are not able to trade, but on the other hand we have to be mindful that this is not all about cramming stalls in.

"Normally I'd be saying let's get as many stalls in as possible, but we don't want that - it's got to be a balance between providing a service and encouraging people to come, but we don't want huge crowds."