Northumberland’s largest Town with a REFORM UK led Council appears to local social media commentators to have ignored the needs of residents.
Blyth is not only the largest town in the County of Northumberland its also the poorest, a fact that was never ignored by this Council’s predecessor Blyth Valley Council who ensured the essential needs for the community market were always met with its market full of traders at least three days each and every week.
The BBC recently reported on the recent growth in this sector as Unitary Councils press businesses to pay ever increasing rates on their bricks and mortar high street shops. Market stalls and multi-vendor food halls are proliferating across the UK as rising business rates and high costs pressures bite. Pushing traders to move to markets and away from traditional high-street retail ahead of 2026 revaluations. This shift represents a move toward lower-cost, flexible, and high-footfall alternatives for businesses struggling with increased overheads
The FT as well as the BBC has reported growth in the sector at 26% in February 2026 rising rapidly to 31% in March 26. Councils are also seeing shops returning to high streets where footfall has increased through better markets with all current retail staying put in many of those same towns as they enjoy similar footfall growth and stronger passing trade.
Where is Blyth Town Council on this?
It appears Northumberland County Council, the current market managers where most of Blyth Town Councillors are also members have outsourced its market management to a once a fortnight Craft Market run by a company ‘wavelength’NE.
It's being said by locals that to get a stall in Blyth your business must engage with wavelength NE. Wavelength appears to have set up an exciting market for early June in Cramlington Northumberland but in Blyth they may need to seek help from the Town Council to attract the stalls Blyth folk want and need.
Many Blyth commentators believe that REFORM UK Blyth branch are up to help the market and partner with the current organiser as they have been photographed as a group of politicians at Amble Market, one of the county's most successful ventures. They have also commented on social media that they have asked stallholders about coming to Blyth.
It appears that the new market place, now built on by Northumberland Conservatives does not pass the weight test for market traders to park their vehicles near the stalls and many fear they will have to hire porters to bring stock to the stalls which would be a huge drain on their profits. Blyth Town and County Councillors from REFORM UK and the Conservatives could iron out those problems and improve the retail off for the whole of the largest Town in Northumberland.
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