Spalding Market In The 1950s

A Memory of Spalding.

I can remember Mick's stall just outside the Red Lion and he'd have crowds of people round him. He'd hold up an item and then say - I'm not asking 10/-, 5/- but 2/6! He always did a good trade. The market went on much later in the 1950s and in the winter, methylated spirit lamps were lit with their distinctive smell, and old ladies sat at the back in the semi darkness bundled up in layers of black clothes. The market usually was erected longways along the market place, from the Corn Exchange to Lloyds Bank but for a short time it was the other way round and across the area.