Street trading pitches

How we allocate stalls

We don't accept advanced bookings for stalls on any trading days.

• Monday to Thursday: come to the Market Office at 8am. The market is closed on bank holidays.
• Friday: you need to attend the lottery for your type of goods following our allocation procedure - read the allocation procedure form we gave you at registration for more information.
  Traders who have traded twice in the week have first priority, followed by antique traders, second hand and finally new goods traders.
• Saturday: the allocation procedure is the same as Friday - antique, second hand, priority and then the main lottery.

The lottery

Traders are called from a list that is randomly selected by an officer. You can choose to wait until 9.30am when we make another check for vacant sites.

If you arrive late, after the lottery, you can add your name to the 9.30am list.

You must be set up and ready to trade by 9.30am unless you're on the 9.30am list, when you will have until 10.30am to be ready to trade.

If you are a casual trader we cannot guarantee you a site, however we are generally able to house all traders - you may be offered Golborne Road market on busy mornings. Availability varies from week to week and depends on:

• the season
• weather
• school holidays
• traffic conditions

If there are no sites available on Portobello Road, we may offer you a pitch on Golborne Road market.

Your membership will be deleted if you fail to show for 12 weeks or if you decline to take a site.

Permanent sites

Once you have been trading for at least four weeks you can apply for a permanent site by completing an application form. These are available from the Market Office once every quarter, shortly after the Market Newsletter is published.

Key facts:

• we offer vacant sites first to any permanent traders who want to transfer
• we offer any remaining sites to casual traders
• we give priority to casual traders who have been waiting the longest
• if a casual trader refuses a permanent site three times, we'll remove them from our register
• the Council has the right to refuse an application