The popular Jesmond Food Market held on Armstrong Bridge will return for the last time before Christmas on December 19th.

Newcastle City Council and the directors of Public Health approved a request to reopen both Jesmond Food Market and Quayside Market in late November. It had been closed since September.

A number of local producers and shops are also confirming their presence and their enthusiasm after attending the first return of the market, on December 5th.

Zoe Robertson, founder of The Good Tempered Chocolate Company, saw her business grow considerably during the lockdown.

“At first we thought this was going to be a disaster as we had only started the website,” Robertson told JesmondLocal. “We decided to promote it a bit more and, in the end, lockdown almost turned into a good thing as we were barely able to keep up with demand.”

However, she acknowledged that the atmosphere experienced on earlier this month was an encouragement to return to normal.

“It was really nice to see our regular customers along with some new faces again,” she said.

As the market is being held in a public space, security barriers cannot be used. However, Chris Jewitt, who runs the Jesmond Food market, confirmed that they have applied as many measures as possible to make everyone safe.

“There is a one-way system and we have increased our safety staff allowing us to put two at each end to manage the flow,” he said. “Face masks are mandatory and hand sanitisers are displayed at every stand.