DORCHESTER’S WEEKLY stall market will be taken over by the town council in a year’s time. The authority is to step in to manage the Wednesday market and Sunday car boot sales when the contract with Wimborne-based Ensors ends. The council says it has high hopes of improving the fortunes of the market from April 2026 after waiting decades to take control. Said joint market panel chair, Cllr Molly Rennie: “It’s very good that we have still got a market. “I have confidence that the town council can run it even better.” Although many markets, including Weymouth, have closed the Dorchester weekly Wednesday stall market has battled on, even continuing to offer a service throughout the Covid period. Year after year profits from the market have fallen, likely to be down by around 10 per cent again in the past 12 months, with the excess being shared unequally between Dorset Council and Dorchester Town Council. The market operation in the county town also includes the daily stall market in South Street, occasional ‘special’ markets, a monthly seasonal Sunday artisan market and the Sunday car boot sales which bring in around £13,000 a year for local community and charitable organisations. Many of the precise details about how the town council management of the market will operates have yet to be finalised but the principle of town council management of the market ‘as a concession’ has been agreed by Dorset Council. Both sides will need to later agree and sign a formal ‘contract’, the length of which has also yet to be discussed. Despite the town council’s claims that the 1629 Market Charter document should be returned to the town it seems unlikely that this will happen. The sharing of profits is also likely to continue, although the equation about who gets what will also be up for discussion over the coming months. The fact that the Charter was passed to the previous West Dorset District Council in 1974 and then on to Dorset Council in April 2019, has been a matter of contention for some town councillors. Cllr Molly Rennie has welcomed a statement from Ensors that, although it was not having its contract renewed, would continue to manage the market in a professional way until its involvement ends. A relative of John George from Ensors is credited with starting the weekly market on the existing site in the mid 1800s although the town has had other markets and other market sites. The exact figures for this year’s market operation have yet to be finalised but end of financial year estimates suggest approximately £52,000 going to Dorset Council and £28,000 to the town council with £13,000 going into a reserve fund. Around £30,000 from a reserve fund is expected to be used towards a £100,000 landscaping and seating project for a section of the Fairfield Road which has now been pedestrianised. Dorset Council is expected to contribute a similar, or larger, sum. Work on that project is expected to start in the autumn. Around £13,000 will be available to be shared by local community groups from the profit on the Sunday car boot sales. A ‘footfall survey’ for the town suggests that Wednesdays continue to be the busiest day of the week for Dorchester overall, suggesting that many are attracted to the town by the market, also using some of the town’s shops and cafes.