THE first high street market to be held in Skipton for all traders since lockdown rules were relaxed was blessed with sunshine and plenty of visitors.

All but two small pitches were taken as stallholders set up early this morning.

Julie Holgate who stands on an outdoor clothing and footwear stall outside the old Yorkshire Bank said: "It's great to be back. We seem to have been away such a long time."

Market officer with Skipton Town Council Trevor Burton added: "It's so good to see the market fully operational again. Almost all the pitches were taken, in fact just two were empty. We were fortunate to have such a good sunny say, too. It's nice to see people out and about again.

"We will also be opening the market on a Monday for the first time in a year from next Monday, April 19. The Monday markets will run without a road closure in place with stall holders facing the shops as we have always done historically.

"We expect a reduced number of traders and reduced footfall on Mondays and will monitor the Monday markets closely to ensure social distancing can be properly observed and safety maintained.

"The Wednesday/Friday/Saturday markets will continue to run this year with a road closure in place.

"We have had a really good response from new traders wanting to trade on Skipton market and are looking forward to trading again with both our established traders and some new stalls. We hope to build on the success of last year where feedback from the shoppers was very much in favour of the road closure."