Markets have been at the heart of life in Market Drayton for nearly 800 years. They gave the town one half of its name and continue to thrive today.
Come for an amble along Cheshire Street where a lively, historic street market has been held every Wednesday for centuries. And, just off Cheshire Street, is the Market Drayton Indoor Market, open every Wednesday and Saturday. Both markets open until 3pm.
Find fresh produce, homeware and home accessories, rugs, cakes and ‘giant’ scones to vintage stalls, clothing, jewellery, watches, handbags, handcrafts, plants and lots more.
The Wednesday street market boasts many regular traders, who have been trading in Cheshire Street for decades, as well as new businesses and visiting traders. You can buy everything from mugs and teapots made in The Potteries, vintage-inspired kitchenware and women’s clothing from Italy to quality fresh fruit and veg, Greek food, cakes, bedding plants, faux flowers and more.
Meanwhile, the twice-weekly Indoor Market is home to award-winning butchers, artisan cheeses, handmade pies, homemade cakes, artisan crafts, gifts, jewellery, crystals and haberdashery as well as quality women’s fashions, handmade children’s clothes and men’s vintage clothing, comics, records and curios.
The second Saturday of every month also sees the town’s expanding Artisan Market take place in and around the iconic Buttercross building in Cheshire Street, hosting artisan food producers, handcrafters and artists.
At one time livestock was traded within the historic streets of the town. Today Market Drayton livestock market is based in a purpose-built centre, off Adderley Road, on the outskirts of the town. It remains one of the largest livestock markets in the country.
Drayton, as it was once known, began to grow into an important regional trading centre after the monks of Combermere Abbey, near Whitchurch, were granted a charter, in 1245, by King Henry III to hold weekly markets on Wednesdays.
The epithet ‘Market’ was added to its name at a later date to broadcast the settlement’s significance. Market Drayton is still the third largest market town in Shropshire.
There have been a long line of market buildings in Market Drayton since 1560, built as the population expanded, including Market Drayton’s iconic Buttercross Market shelter, in Cheshire Street, which opened in 1824. Its primary purpose was to house traders selling dairy products and poultry.
No visit to Market Drayton is complete without a walk about its historic town centre streets which are lined with examples of fine Tudor, Georgian and Victorian architecture. Find olde worlde pubs, shops and cafes housed within some of the oldest and most interesting buildings.
To learn more about the town’s history visit Market Drayton Museum, at 53 Shropshire Street, open on market days, 10.30am – 3pm Wednesdays and 10.30am – 1pm Saturdays.
Market Drayton Street Market, Cheshire Street, TF9 1PH open Wednesdays 9am – 3pm
Market Drayton Indoor Market, off Cheshire Street, TF9 1PH, open Wednesdays and Saturdays 9am – 3pm.
