Love The High Street - Skipton

7:01am 15th March 2013
(Updated 9:32am 2nd September 2013)

Day five of Stray FM’s Love The High Street Week comes to the Gateway to the Dales.

Skipton is a bustling market town on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, with a packed High Street full of independent retailers.

The town is steeped in local history and prides itself on being a destination popular with tourists from across the country.

It is famous for the historic market, which takes place four days of the week on both sides of the High Street on the setts, where you can be sure to find anything and everything you need.

It has one of the oldest markets in the country, operated under a Royal Charter granted to the ‘Lord of the Honour of Skipton’ in the early 1200s

The Charter is held by the Fattorinis at Skipton Castle and run by Skipton Town Council.

In a recent Sunday Times poll, it was voted as one of the 10 best markets in the UK.

Skipton High Street was named High Street of the Year in 2009 - beating off London’s Kensington High Street and Portobello Road in the final, and was last year highlighted by the Association of Town Centre Management as a blueprint for how a town centre should be managed.

Sheep Day highlights the heritage of the town as a centre for trading sheep - originally on the High Street itself, then on the site of the current Morrisons supermarket and now at a purpose built auction mart on the edge of the town.

Skipton literally means 'Sheep Town'.

The town centre has fared well through the recession and currently only has 5% of empty shop units compared to a national average of 12%.

Hear Richard Mashiter, Vice-President of Skipton Business Improvement District, who owns Craven Stationery on Coach Street:

Janet Collins owns the Mill Shop on Rope Walk and is President of Skipton Chamber of Trade and Commerce:

skipton market