A NEW weekly market has just opened up on the Waitrose car park, as the Malvern Gazette reported last week.

If we look back 25 years to the Gazette of April 27, 1978, we find that the original, and much-missed, Friday market was about to start up.

The market ceased to exist on the site after work began on the store.

"Spook Erection, a Moreton-in-Marsh company, intends to operate the market on Fridays on land at Edith Walk and Back Lane, although there may be a move by some councillors to have the day changed to Saturday," the report said.

Malvern Hills District Council had just given the firm planning permission to start the market - with 20 conditions aimed at preserving the appearance of the site, which was in the Malvern Conservation Area.

The market went on to become an enduring and popular feature of Malvern's shopping landscape well into the 1990s, but its fate was sealed when Waitrose won permission to build its new supermarket.

The Friday market still continues in the grounds of the Council House, off Avenue Road, but most impartial observers would argue that it's just a shadow of its former self, in terms of the number and variety of stalls.

Whether the new Tuesday market will be as successful as the old Friday market, only time will tell.