It’s soon to be the start of a new academic year and, while many have graduated, many others will be joining us at the University of Surrey! Therefore, I hope to give you some insight into the weekly market which is held on North Street in Guildford town.

Just for your information, I am writing this with my knowledge of the market before the pandemic. I have not personally visited the market after the pandemic started, so I am not entirely sure of any changes. I have read that social distancing measures have been put in place, although I am personally not sure of how the measures are carried out.

The weekly North Street market is held every Friday and Saturday, from 9:00 to 16:30-ish. The closing times differ from stall to stall, but it generally ends around 16:30. You may find some stalls still standing closer to 17:00 and some stalls may have already closed by 16:00, so it varies. I would advise you that, if you want the absolute best pick and have the most to choose from, come as early as you can.

Getting There
It’s not hard at all to get to the market! If you are taking a bus to the Friary bus station (which most, if not all, buses stop at), you might even spot the market as you stop at the station. Once you alight at the Friary mall/bus station, walk towards the Burger King at the corner opposite you and you should be able to spot the row of tents pitched at the side of the street. Ta-dah! That is North Street.

Take your pick!
There are several stalls lining one side of the street, amongst them being fruit and vegetable stalls, flowers/plant stalls, fresh seafood stalls, etc.

There are several fruit and vegetable stalls, so I would definitely advise you to compare the freshness and prices of the fruit/vegetables between the stalls before buying from just one store! At the further end of the street, you can also find Unique Fruit, which is the grocer that usually supplies the fruits and vegetables in the university’s Thursday market. Here’s a pro-tip for you, if you didn’t already know! If you go to the market closer to closing time (around 15:00-16:00), the fruit and vegetable stalls are more likely to lower their prices and give better deals for you, especially on Saturday! It’s probably because they can’t keep the produce and would like to get rid of most of them as possible. The only thing is if you’re there for the fresh seafood stall at that time, everything would most likely be gone or have been sitting out in the open for a while already. So, I would advise against buying seafood later in the day.

Speaking of fresh seafood, there is a fishmonger stall called the Wild Fish Project located somewhere in the centre of the street. You would probably come across it as you peruse around the market – it’s pretty hard to miss! They have a pretty wide variety of seafood available, from different kinds of fish to all sorts of shellfish and other sea creatures. You’re more likely to get the type of fish you want here than in Tesco (from my experience) and it’s usually fresher too. As far as I know, they happen to do delivery and/or collection for Guildford but I would refer to their Facebook page for more details. They recommend contacting them by email (found on their FB page) by 18:00 on Wednesday every week to find out what they will probably have in store and/or are available for collection/delivery. They are on hiatus at the time of writing this, but they mentioned they will be back in September.

Now, if you’re looking for bread, I suggest walking up and looking for the BrownBread stall. They handmake their bread, pastries, cakes and more, and they are absolutely divine. I personally love getting their sourdough because I love me some sourdough and it is really laborious to make your own. Slightly toasted and buttered sourdough with salami, cheese, and olive spread? Say no more. Even if you aren’t going to town just for the weekly market, you can find this same stall every day under Tunsgate Arch on High Street. They also do deliveries to certain postcodes, but I suggest updating yourself on their Facebook page.

These are just a few of the stalls I’ve highlighted which I tend to visit whenever I go to the weekly market. To note, there are stalls selling handmade jewellery, cakes, flowers/plants (for you green thumbs out there that want to spruce up your place), and there is even a food truck that sells hot dogs and burgers, if memory serves me right. It is definitely worth your while to go into town every week to peruse the market!

But wait!
Just for your information, this is not the only market that happens in Guildford! There is a monthly Farmer’s market which is held every first Tuesday of the month (except January, according to the Guildford Borough Council website). As far as I know during the time of writing, due to the renovation on High Street where it is usually held, the market has moved to the car park off of North Street but this may change in the coming months.

I will hopefully write another blog post on that market later on, but that’s it for me this time! Toodle-oo!