The town council has signed Visit Knaresborough CIC to manage the Wednesday market day to day. New trader terms are agreed and pitch rates are being finalised.

Knaresborough’s Wednesday market will be run day to day by Visit Knaresborough CIC, under a service level agreement the town council approved and signed at a meeting of its new Market Committee on 8 September.

The agreement is the clearest sign yet that control of the 716-year-old charter market has passed from North Yorkshire Council to Knaresborough Town Council. The town council announced a four-week shadow period on 13 August, working alongside county staff “ahead of the long awaited handover anticipated for September”. Neither council has yet published the formal transfer date, and we could not confirm it from either council’s records this week.

What the committee agreed

The draft minutes of the 8 September meeting record that councillors:

  • approved the service level agreement with Visit Knaresborough CIC for the operational management of the weekly market, and authorised it to be signed immediately
  • approved new terms and conditions and charging policies for stallholders, with a few amendments, and agreed to keep reviewing them
  • asked the town development manager to finalise proposed pitch rates, with any changes coming back to the committee
  • agreed to hold off on any relaunch or marketing campaign until traders and the council have had “a period of adjustment”
  • set budget estimates for the market to be submitted by the end of October, with the next committee meeting in early October

The committee also adopted a mission statement for the market: “to serve as the vibrant heart of Knaresborough’s community by connecting local farmers, artisans and small businesses with residents and visitors”.

The discussion of the agreement and the trader terms was held in private session on commercial sensitivity grounds, so the proposed pitch rates are not yet public. Cllr J Pickard declared a non-pecuniary interest as a director of Visit Knaresborough CIC.

How Knaresborough market changed hands

Why the market changed hands

North Yorkshire Council proposed the handover in October 2025 as part of its “double devolution” programme, which passes county-run services to town and parish councils. Announcing it, executive member for highways Cllr Malcolm Taylor called the plan “double devolution in action”, enabling “decisions that will benefit stallholders and residents to be taken at a local level”. The market has operated under a royal charter granted by King Edward II in 1310.

The money behind the deal was set out in a report to the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Committee in September 2025. The market brought North Yorkshire Council an average of £60,000 a year over the previous three years. The town council projected income of £70,000 a year against running costs of about £50,000, with a five-year lease, potentially rent free, on the county’s Iles Lane storage facility. The county had already decided in December 2024 to stop subsidising stall set-up at Knaresborough and Ripon markets, a change it deferred while the transfer was worked through.

What it means for you

The market itself carries on as before: stalls on Market Place every Wednesday. The changes land first on traders. New terms and conditions now apply, pitch rates are being finalised and could change, and the town council says available pitches are being actively promoted, so anyone wanting a stall should contact the town council at Knaresborough House.

Shoppers should see the effects more slowly. The committee has ideas for the market’s future but has deliberately parked any relaunch until the transition settles. We will report the pitch rates and any changes to the market’s shape when the committee makes them public, expected from its early October meeting.

Separately, applications for the town’s two-day Christmas market in December close at the end of October. For events across the district, see things to do in Harrogate.