Local butchers Chris and Ann Rees are featured on the front cover of this month’s Market Times Magazine.

Familiar faces to many, Chris and Ann run Albert Rees Butchers in Carmarthen Market, a friendly, bilingual, family butcher which also has a stall in Pembroke Dock Market every Friday morning.

Carmarthen Town Market is the subject of a four-page feature by Nicola Gould, who writes about on how the market was saved by the people of Carmarthen.

“There has been a market in Carmarthen for centuries following the granting of a charter by King Richard II in 1394,” writes Nicola Gould, who described how a public protest in 2009 saved the market when planners were considering moving it to the edge of the town. “People power persuaded them to relent and locate the new market in the town’s retail heart.

No mention of Chris Rees would be complete without reference to his meeting celebrity chefs Rick Stein and Ainsley Harriott, or his flagship product, Carmarthen ham.

“Chris is the fifth generation of his family to trade on Carmarthen Market,” the article continues. “He remembers four different markets where the family has traded over the years, but the first was definitely the best, he says.”

You can access the magazine here to read the full article. The feature is found on pages 36-39.

The leading publication for the traditional retail markets sector, as well as street traders, events retailers and hot food sellers, Market Times is a 48-page glossy magazine which before COVID-19 was posted directly to around 20,000 traders, market operators and key industry decision makers every two months. Editions from October 2020 are available only online. But as usual the magazine includes features on markets, festivals and fairs from all over the UK, the latest news about the UK’s markets industry, and updates on the NMTF’s lobbying activities, projects and campaigns.