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Love Your Local Market to be recreated across Europe. 

Britain’s successful Love Your Local Market is to be recreated across Europe, High Streets Minister Brandon Lewis announced yesterday (28 May 2014) as the fortnight draws to a close.

Across Britain 900 markets are holding 7,000 events during the Love Your Local Market fortnight. There have already been some great events taking place across the country including over 100 youth markets.

At a reception in the House of Commons, a group of market organisations from Europe including Venice and Barcelona, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build on the success of Love Your Local Market and celebrate the importance of markets to communities, towns and cities across Europe and the world.

Now part of the Love Your Local Market brand are:

• France
• Italy
• Spain
• Holland

And those joining in 2015:

• Ireland
• Poland
• Hungary
• Greece
• Cyprus
• Lebanon
• Slovenia
• Slovakia

Watch a video of Love Your Local Market being celebrated in Barcelona.

Co-signatories included the National Association of British Market Authorities, the World Union of Wholesale Markets, URBACT markets and Market Operators Groupe Geraud who deliver over 2,500 markets across Europe each week.

The agreement means members will work to promote retail and wholesale markets in different ways, share experience and knowledge to benefit the wider markets industry, and bring a higher profile to their local markets.

Read about some of the highlights from this year’s event.

High Streets Minister Brandon Lewis said:

I’m proud the government is backing the Love Your Local Market campaign for the third year in a row. Britain has its own proud heritage of markets and it is great news the Love Your Local Market brand has captured imagination across Europe. Not only are markets vibrant and buzzing places which make them the heartbeat of the community, but the success of Love Your Local Market shows how they can energise entrepreneurs, encourage young traders and give hundreds of people the opportunity to try their hand at starting their own business.

National Association of British Market Authorities Chief Executive Graham Wilson OBE said:

Love Your Local Market has become the biggest market event in the UK. Last year it involved 700 markets and enabled around 3,000 people to try market trading for the first time. We are hoping to achieve even greater success this year. Giving Love Your Market an international dimension will demonstrate the ability of markets across Europe to work together and enable us all to show the importance of markets to local communities in many different places. It will also show the vital contribution made by markets to boosting local business and culture.

Maria Cavit from the World Union of Wholesale Markets said:

We are delighted to be playing a leading role in bringing retail markets from Europe and the wider markets community together to enjoy the benefits of international market celebrations. This provides an opportunity for markets to learn from each other and demonstrate the strength of markets in many different places. The World Union of Wholesale Markets looks forward to working with all our partners over the next 2 years to develop an international ‘Love Your Local Market’.