LAST Thursday's colourful continental market on the old Monnow Bridge proved a popular draw with members of the public. But the heady combination of lavendar from Provence, paella, pitta bread from Cyprus and biscuits from Brittany left a slightly sour taste in the mouths of the permanent traders on the bridge. "We're not against the market," Glyn Davies, of Bridge Cycles, told the Beacon, "We think it's a brilliant idea - it gets more people down on this side of the bridge - but we were told specifically that there would be no stalls on this side of the road." Mr Davies claimed that Monmouth's One Stop Shop Area Services manager, Debbie McCarty had told market organisers that provided they left enough space in front of the shops, it would be fine to have the stalls on both sides. "So she's told one thing to us traders and she's saying something esle to the market people - not only that but the stalls are right in front of the shops and they've got an electric cable going across. "I've had three deliveries this morning and in every case the van had to park on the roundabout - that's a hazard for a start - and then they've have had to carry stuff in. "It's a case of it's only going to be for one day, suffer it, but it's just not on." Julie Randall-Cook, who owns The Tulip Tree, said she would be making a formal complaint to the council. "We were told it would be on just the one side of the road like the farmers market when everyone comes up and down and there's no disruption whatsoever. "When we came and found this and all the crates were outside the shop, we were a little bit annoyed." A spokesman for Alan Morgan of Monmouth Appliances Centre, said: "Normally people who want to pick things up or drop things off can pull up outside the shop; now there's no access at all. "We get big deliveries - articulated wagons, 40 tonners; they would usually come round the roundabout, reverse in here and drop off; now they've got to park on the roundabout or near that area, holding up the traffic, and wheel deliveries out on a trolley. "We welcome the markets because they bring people in from far afield and a lot of people think the town stops on the other side of the bridge and don't know we're here. The only thing we were up in arms about was the access - when councillors came here they assured us there would be no stalls this side of the road." It's just got to be better thought out."
