Hi! Welcome to the 2025 Nottingham Samhain Market Trader Application form. Thank you for your interest in our market celebrating the beginning of summer! Scroll down for the form if you’re already in the know; I’ll start with some information about the market.
The Organisers
The Nottingham Pagan Markets are organised by MinorOak Coworking and Pagan Pride.
Dee Miller (right) of MinorOak is the site organiser and is in charge of the physical configuration and commerical side of the market. As a trader, you’ll work with Dee.
Esme Knight (left) of Pagan Pride is in charge of cultural parts of the market: music, dance, talks, and ritual, all of which are free to the public. The commercial side of the market (with city council cooperation) creates space for the cultural side.
You as a Trader
We are looking for artists, craftpeople, and other makers, as well as a few food businesses. Examples from past markets include ceramic artists, jewelry makers, potters, soap and candle makers, blacksmiths and other metal workers, wood workers, farmers with fresh produce or growing kits for produce, visual artists, clothing designers, folk crafters, witches, tabletop gaming accessory makers, card readers, up-cyclers, small scale food businesses, and traders with antique and vintage stock. All of those – and more – are welcome, or surprise us with something new and unusual!
In general, we ask that you avoid imported, mass produced goods. If you are a graphic designer or artist and bring items made abroad with your designs on them, that’s okay. Books and cards are also generally welcome, but please make sure they are not cheap unauthorised copies that violate copyright and rip off the author/artist. Crystal traders are welcome, but we will limit the number this year and give precedence to traders who vet their sources or include handmade, pre-owned, and UK-sourced items. Traders with imported fair trade and direct trade items (Indian cotton, shae butter, etc.) will also be considered. Please eleborate in the comments field.
At the Market
We’ll have live music and performances by the Nottingham Shakespeare Company as part of the market, as well as talks and hopefully a May Pole and Morris dancers! It is free for the public, with open gates, and it takes place in Sneinton Market Avenues and on the big Sneinton Market square next to the Victoria Leasure Centre. Sneinton Market is full of unique, vibrant independant businesses and studios, including a microbrewery, a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, and an award-winning baker who uses locally milled flour.
Pitch types
Our market is mostly outdoors, so you can bring a gazebo or other shelter, or choose an undercroft pitch with a table and chair provided. There will also be a limited number of small tables inside MinorOak. We are a paved, urban site, so if you bring a gazebo you will need substantial weights for it. Since we are expanding to the big square this year, there may be room for large and vehicle-based pitches that we have not been able to accomodate in the past.
We would like to offer pre-erected pitches, but we are still negiotiating this with the council and possible contractors. They may or not be available. Sorry about the uncertainty!
Risk Management
Traders are required to have £5 million in public liability insurance. This is a city council requirement that we’ve been asked to adhere to. The city council has been really lovely in helping us keep the market going and growing, but we do need to follow their rules and there is an inherent risk in a pop-up outdoor market, especially with some traders providing their own temporary structures. However, you need not worry about mud or being stuck outside. We will have a plan for traders to retreat into nearby buildings in the event of terrible weather.
If high winds and/or heavy rain is predicted, the market may be cancelled (though we’ve not even had to cancel in the 6 years we’ve been running these markets). If the market is cancelled due to weather or other ‘force majure’, traders will receive a partial refund of their pitch fee minus £20 (we keep £20). Last minute cancelations (within 10 days of the market) will not be refunded. If you cancel before that, we will refund your pitch fee minus £20. The non-refundable £20 is because we put a lot of work into the planning, the guidebook, etc.; the market itself is only a small percentage of the effort involved for us.
The Trader Terms and Conditions are here.