AN EASTER market held in Worcester city centre this weekend has been branded a roaring success.

The city centre was abuzz on Saturday, April 4 as the first in a series of seasonal markets was held at the Cathedral end of the High Street, with a range of stallholders from Worcestershire and further afield offering a range of unique and unusual gifts and treats.

This was the first of a series of seasonal event to be held in the city since the relaunch of the city’s market last December, with spring, summer, harvest and Halloween-themed markets to follow later this year.

Sophie Scott-Lewis of Tiny Grey from Tewkesbury was on hand selling a range of handmade and designed prints, 3D cards, mugs and other items.

“I’ve had a really good response today,” she said. “A lot of people have said how clean the stall looks.

“It’s certainly raising a few smiles when people come past.

“I started off for my wedding in October 2013 I made bespoke coaters for all the guests and people liked them so much they started buying them.

“I make all of it apart from the mugs, but I design and transfer the designs on to them.”

Also running a stall was Anton Craige of Stourport-based The Pie Creator, who was selling a range of delicious-looking pastries, pies, sausage rolls and scotch eggs, all made from scratch by his father Nigel.

“The response has been really good,” he said.

“It’s all made from scratch using local ingredients. My Dad is a classically trained chef and has worked at a number of places in the area including La Brasserie in Kidderminster and the Hadley Bowling Green.”

All the regular stallholders were also on hand in Angel Place on Saturday, while Easter Sunday saw the inaugural Upmarket event, an arts and crafts market which will be held every Sunday.

Event coordinator with LSD Promotions, which runs the markets on behalf of Worcester City Council, Chris Bates said he was delighted by how well the events were being received by shoppers.

“It looks great and you can see people are enjoying presence of a market in town,” he said.

“It can only be a positive thing to have in the high street.

“It’s what the city needs.”

Today, Easter Monday, sees a rambling market around the South Quay with buskers and street performers, with similar events planned for August.

Worcester’s Market was relaunched in December following a revamp of the Angel Place area, and has proved such a success it was recently announced it would begin operating every Friday as well as its previous Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

For more details on market events in Worcester visit worcestercitymarkets.co.uk.