Context 165 - August 2020

C O N T E X T 1 6 5 : A U G U S T 2 0 2 0 19 Food and drink JOHN PRESTON Significance and heritage protection at Cambridge Market There is no sign of a resolution to the competing demands on Cambridge’s historic market square: the traders and the council seem to have very different ideas about what to do with it. Cambridge’s present market square dates from 1855, when new setts and a central gothic fountain were laid out following a major fire. The centrepiece of the market remains the truncated base of this fountain, now Grade II listed; the upper sections were demolished in the 1950s. The market is overlooked by the Grade I listed Great St Mary’s Church to the west, the Grade I listed 5 Market Hill to the east, the Grade II listed Guildhall to the south, and further Grade II listed buildings to the north and east. The whole area, apart from the roadway bordering the market and modern pavements, is identified in the historic core appraisal as an area of historic paving. The stalls themselves are modern, but have highly characteristic multi- colour striped canopies. Cambridge’s market square has many compet- ing demands on it. It is not only a seven-day marketplace but also Cambridge’s prime civic space, the destination for demonstrations and rallies, speeches and gatherings outside the Guildhall. Successive city leaders have had ambitions to improve the square. In 1995 these got as far as plans for a redesign, a trial area of new paving with different granite samples, and a competition for a replacement fountain. The winning fountain design was unpopular, but the proposals for the square foundered on the need to replace the drains. This would have required digging up the square; to do this, the traders would have to be moved. As the then director of planning Peter Studdert said in a later interview: ‘Where were the traders going to go? The logis- tics of finding space for them somewhere in the city was mind-boggling.’1 The 2006 Historic Core Conservation Area Appraisal noted that ‘today the market continues to be the thriving heart of the day-time city’, but that ‘the Victorian fountain is a sad shadow of its former glory and any enhancement scheme should attempt to raise its profile… The major opportunity is to build on the life and vibrancy of the market during the day and spread this into the night… The atmosphere changes after dark and, to some, the square becomes threaten- ing.’ The 2016 appraisal update added: ‘The market stalls seem relatively flimsy given that they are near-permanent fixtures of the space. Although the canopies were recently replaced there is potential to enhance the marketplace considerably by upgrading the stalls to larger, more robust structures and using better quality materials.’2 1 Interview by Michelle Shepherd-Barron, Cambridge Agenda , November 2004. A view over the market (Photo: Friends of Cambridge Market) 2 https://democracy. cambridge.gov.uk/ documents/g3256/ Public%20reports%20 pack%2022nd-Feb- 2018%2018.05%20 Council.pdf?T=10