Operated by charity Micah Liverpool, the market will be just outside the city centre and works through being able to sell food that supermarkets have deemed surplus to requirements. Tony McDonough reports

A new weekly community market that will offer surplus supermarket food at low prices will  start opening in Liverpool from Monday, April 23.

Running from 11am to 2pm every Monday, except Bank Holidays, the market will be based at St Michael in the City on Upper Pitt Street, close to the Baltic Triangle area and its aim is to help those struggling to make ends meet.

It works through being able to sell food that supermarkets have deemed surplus to requirements. This way the produce is cheaper than in regular shops giving more choice and flexibility. Markets like this have been shown to help prevent people having to turn to the emergency aid that foodbanks offer.

Figures show that 64% of people in the Riverside area of the city are either unemployed, receiving sickness benefit, retired, students or homemakers. Many bring in less than the national average income and risk falling into genuine hardship.

The community market has been set up by Micah Liverpool, a charity which aims to achieve justice, fairness and well-being for people in the city. The market will complement the work being carried out by Micah Liverpool through its emergency food aid foodbank which operates from St Bride’s and St Vincent’s church buildings.

St Michael in the City is one of three churches that form the Team Parish of St Luke In The City, named after the original name of the Bombed Out Church.

The church has space to offer this community market, is ideally located for customers and so was a logical choice to host this. Micah Liverpool also plans to open a community café.

Paul O’Brien, executive director of Micah Liverpool, said “The scandal of society is that so many people are driven into poverty because they don’t have affordable options to choose from.

“The community market offers people on low income a chance to manage their budgets and feed their families preventing them from hitting the crisis point. We want to get to a point where we no longer need to give emergency food aid through foodbanks.”

Micah Liverpool is a charity launched in partnership between Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and St Bride’s Church.