A NEW indoor market in the North Tyne has been deemed a big success.

Bellingham Indoor Market is a new monthly event held in the Town Hall on the third Saturday of each month.

The village's Parish Council organise the market.

The inaugural event taking place in August, whilst the second market was last Saturday (September 18).

Coun. Martin Dickson-Green said: "It's going really well. We've had really good feedback from the traders and from the public.

"We topped 400 visitors on the first one and we had 360 at the second one.

"We thought the September one was going to be a bit quiet, but it wasn't.

"The atmosphere has been great."

Traders so far have included Mag's Bags, artisan bakery Bread&Roses, Muckle Brewing and The Northumberland Gin Company.

With 18 tables available, the plan is to keep core stalls such as the artisan bread and cheese sellers as regular fixtures, but rotate some of the others so there is variation each month.

Coun. Martin Dickson-Green added: "We are being conscious when we curate the market so we don't have multiples of the same type of stall.

"We'd rather have lots of choice and each trader doing well, rather than competing against each other."

Coun. Martin Dickson-Green said the idea of the market was to get people from surrounding areas used to shopping in the village, rather than just going into Hexham.

He added: "All the stalls we have as well we try and make sure they don't compete with shops in the village."

Bellingham Parish Council pay to rent the Town Hall whilst the market takes place, and charge £10 per table to traders.

"Any surplus is then re-invested back to the community," Coun. Martin Dickson-Green said.

The next Bellingham Indoor Market will take place on October 16, between 9am and 1.30pm.

If any traders are interested in having a stall at the market, they can email Bellingham Parish Council on clerk@bellinghamparishcouncil.gov.uk