THE Artisan Market has finished runner-up in Mary Portas’ High Street Champion of the Year Award.

Drawn from reader nominations that stretched from Scotland to Devon, Eastbourne to Northern Ireland, the two market organisers from Wilmslow were awarded the second runner-up place.

Denise Valente and Vicky Jackson, had the chance to spend 30 minutes with Mary, discussing their work and the impact it had made on their local high street and community.

Vicky Jackson said: “The artisan market is more than a street market, our goal is to reinvigorate our local towns.

“It is not based around a particular product, it is not centred on a theme, it is much bigger than that.

“It is a package focused on experience and designed to appeal to all members of our local community.”

One a publisher and the other a businesswoman, they launched the artisan market two years ago which has now grown to 130 stalls and takes place monthly in Wilmslow, Knutsford, Middlewich and Northwich.

Vicky added: “The artisan market facilitates the making and creating of products, it creates a vibrant atmosphere for our traders to trade in, a shop window for enterprise and innovation.

“It provides a place to eat, to drink, to shop, to chat, to meet friends, to listen to music, to dance, a place to bring people together.”

The High Street Champion of the Year was awarded to chair of the Town Team in Chislehurst in Kent.