TRADERS at Southampton Bargate's new Friday market are celebrating after a visitor survey revealed that 35,700 people attended the street market in one day.

City centre manager Ian Rothwell, who was responsible for starting the weekly event in May, said: "Southampton is bucking the trend in markets."

Southampton-born ex-docker Paul Lewis, 48, who runs the market on behalf of City Centre Management, said the key was an emphasis on quality. He added: "We are taking the traditional market upmarket. We have insisted on top-quality products and service, we have ensured a wide range of goods are on sale, and all the traders are committed to working together."

The result, said Mr Lewis, has been a 62 per cent increase in visitors to the Bargate area compared with last year.

One of the secrets of the market's success is that it is run on a co-operative basis.

"All traders have to be members. That way, they are all committed to the market's success and all take a pride in what they are doing," said Mr Lewis.

In a major innovation, all Southampton's Friday market traders have put themselves on the same footing as the best high street shops by offering guarantees and refunds to unhappy customers.

Low rents have helped attract enterprising new businesses. As well as the traditional fruit and veg, unusual products attracting lots of interest include organic Polish bread, Iranian olives, bonsai trees, wood carvings, New Forest sausages and coffee beans from throughout the world.