A MARKET is set to come back to a Worcestershire town - after an absence of 20 years.

The venture has been taken on by pub landlord Steve Quayle as a way of encouraging people into Upton-upon-Severn.

"They have been talking about a market in Upton ever since I moved here, but nothing seemed to be happening, so I decided to do something about it myself," said Mr Quayle of the Talbot Head Hotel.

The market will be held in the Talbot car park on the last Wednesday of every month, starting on Wednesday, October 30.

It will open at 10am and stay open until 7pm, to give people a chance to call in after work.

Market traders will be coming from as far away as Bristol, but some local traders are also taking stalls.

Upton has not had a market for 20 years, although it was suggested and shelved by the town's Chamber of Commerce in 1983, revived by the Civic Society in 1992 and mooted again by the Chamber of Commerce in 1996.

Two years ago Upton resident Mark Oakes won permission to hold an open market on the Hanley Road car park, but did not go ahead with the project.

Give up

In May, this year, he announced it would be opening this summer, but by August, lack of backing had forced him to give up the idea.

Mr Quayle took up the project after getting into conversation with one of his customers, who is a market trader.

"The whole idea is to bring people into town. It's only human nature to go shopping for one thing and buy something else, so we hope they will come into the pub for a drink and buy in the shops as well," he said.

"I have been here for three years and we don't seem to have recovered from the effects of the floods two years ago, followed by foot- and-mouth disease.

"Trade took a hammering then and we don't seem to have got back what we lost.

"The more we can do here to bring people in from other towns, the better it will be for us all."

Nearly all the space in the car park has been booked and the stalls will stock a wide variety of goods, including tools, hardware, rugs, shoes, bags, flowers, candles and Christmas crackers.

"Many of the lines are top brand goods at a fraction of the normal price and few of them are already available in the town," said Mr Quayle.