CONTINENTAL market traders made a welcome return to St Helens and many of them had trouble keeping up with the demand for their exotic offerings... so great was the response from townsfolk.

Church Square was solid with eager shoppers keen to experience the atmosphere of the three-day event, as they browsed amongst stalls selling goods from French wine to Dutch flowers.

Town centre manager Ged Gibbons said; "In terms of measuring its success, you only have to see what happened to the Dutch flower seller Gary.

"He had virtually sold out of his stock on the Friday and tried to get another lorry load over, but couldn't get a ferry.There was also a cheese seller from Cheshire who by one o'clock on Friday had also run out of stock."

Ged stressed that the knock on effect of the market are beneficial for shops and stores in the town centre who recorded increased customer numbers.

Councillor Andy Bowden, Executive Member for Urban Regeneration echoed Ged's comments: "There was a great atmosphere, shoppers were certainly enjoying the experience and there was a vibrancy to the town centre."

Ged said that the lure of excellent service, high quality goods and fresh foods that are unavailable in this country, draws people to markets such as this.

"For many people a trip to the market is a treat," he said. "And this is the world of supply and demand. But you wouldn't believe how many people came up to me and said how brilliant it was."

Figures, showing the staggering increase in town centre visitors bore out the faith shown in the market.

Ged said: "As we expected, turnout was up significantly on last November. He said that over the course of the market, more than 100,000 people visited the town and for the first time, car parks were full.

"On Sunday, with hardly anything open in town, more than 11,000 people turned up. This just shows how busy and successful it was."

The market will return for four days this November and it's expected to be bigger still.