Operating a market in Newcastle

Newcastle City Council is a market authority operating markets on all seven days of the week. We have statutory powers to establish and control markets within our own area.

As an incident of Newcastle City Council’s power to establish markets, it has statutory and common law rights to protect its markets from disturbance by rival markets being set up within its area and within a distance of 6.66 miles from its own markets. This has been confirmed by Court.

As a result, Newcastle City Council protects its own markets by generally not licensing markets which are to be held more than 6 times per year on the same site with less than 2 months between each market date whether operated commercially or for fund-raising/charity.

A market is defined as “a concourse of buyers and sellers” and this therefore includes car boot sales, fairs and any type of market, including speciality markets.

If the market you propose to set up and operate is within Newcastle City Council’s boundaries, or is/could be within 6.66 miles of one of the Council’s markets you must complete the form below in order to apply for a licence to operate it.

Application form for a licence to operate a market (Word, 456KB)

Charges for a rival market or operating a market are as follows:

Fundraising or charity - £50 per market per day
6 to 30 stalls - £180 per market per day
31 to 60 stalls - £250 per market per day
60 to 80 stalls - £300 per market per day
81 stalls + - £350 per market per day