Friday, July 23, 2010

Tuesday markets in Tonbridge....

Just found this information in an old agriculture book on Kent which some of the more nostalgic among you may find interesting: Market days were every Tuesday in Tonbridge (the market entrance was right opposite Mr. Books shop in fact) Now I'm not talking about a bit of fruit and veg, some dodgy batteries and t-shirts; I'm talking about a proper thriving livestock market. In fact the numbers of livestock which moved through Tonbridge market in a typical year are recorded, up to the early 1950s, as being 4,500 cattle, 3,000 calves, 18,500 sheep, and 11,000 pigs; a total of 37,000! They would have all been herded from the railway station and later from lorries along the main streets through the town. Now that's a lot of crap down the High Street to clear up on a Tuesday evening! Whatever happened to these traditional market days? Why did they suddenly disappear? Wasn't it better in those days? Can't we bring them back?...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You would have been happy on Market Days, the nearby pubs (the White Hart, the Red Lion, the White Horse, the Rose and Crown tap
the Man of Kent, the Stags Head)
stayed open all afternoon. But in 1971 it came to an end.