TRADERS and shoppers have joined forces to celebrate the first birthday of Southampton Bargate's Friday market.

Set up to promote a livelier city centre, the market has grown in popularity since it was opened in May last year.

A visitor survey conducted last September revealed that 35,700 people attended the street market's 50 stalls in one day and an overall 62 per cent increase in visitors to the Bargate area compared to 12 months earlier.

Traders at the distinctive green and white stalls sell anything from traditional fruit and veg to unusual products attracting lots of interest including organic Polish bread, Iranian olives, bonsai trees, wood carvings, New Forest sausages and coffee beans from throughout the world.