Narrowboats bring floating market to canal

Narrowboat owners will turn their vessels into floating shops, bakeries and craft stalls when a floating market arrives in Staffordshire.

The Fazeley Junction Floating Market will take place on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal from Saturday until Monday.

The Roving Canal Traders Association (RCTA), who are behind it, will set up on the towpath near Tamworth over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The free-to-attend event will see decorated boats moored side-by-side, as traders sell handmade crafts, artwork, food and gifts directly from the water and volunteers said they expected more than 1,000 people to come each day.

David Taylor, from the RCTA, said their members "all muck in" to organise each event voluntarily, with traders travelling between markets across the country throughout the year.

"Each market is a really eclectic mix of people selling all sorts of things like handmade craft, art, food," he said.

"My wife, for example, is a watercolour artist, so we hang all her paintings and prints on the side of the boat - it looks like a floating gallery.

"We've had a waffle boat, a curry cruiser, someone with a full-size pizza oven on their boat!

"It encourages people to get down to the canal, not just to see the floating market, but to experience the heritage of the canal network."

The floating market will run from 10:00 to 17:00 BST each day.

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