Speakers
Murad Qureshi - Chair
Murad Qureshi is a Member of the London Assembly and Deputy Chair of the Environment Committee, Member of the Transport Committee, Member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, and Chair of the London Waterways Commission.
Prior to this he was a councillor in the City of Westminster for 8 years. Before being elected to the London Assembly in 2004, he worked in housing and regeneration for 15 years, helping to establish Housing Associations to deal with acute housing need in the East End. He has been campaigning for Edgware Road tube station to be renamed Church Street Market, to end the confusion between that station and the namesake station on the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines and promote the market itself.
Murad is convinced of the importance of street markets for the local economy and their critical role in regenerating urban centres. He instigated the London's Street Markets report published in January 2008 by the London Assembly's Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee.
Rosie Boycott - Key note speaker
Newly appointed Chair of London Food as part of Mayor Boris Johnson's attempt to help improve Londoners' access to healthy, locally produced and affordable food. Previously she was a high profile journalist with posts as editor of the Independent , the Independent on Sunday and the Daily Express after she co-founded the feminist magazine Spare Rib in 1971 with Marsha Rowe and then Virago Press, a publishing concern committed to women's writing.
Krys Zasada - Speaker
Krys Zasada is Policy Development Manager for the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA), funded by and working with the representative market organisations in the UK to develop a detailed national policy context for the markets industry.
Prior to this, Krys worked for almost 10 years as Head of Manchester Markets, responsible for the strategic and operational management of the City Council’s market portfolio.
Krys is an Advisor to NABMA, and chaired the industry-wide working group responsible for producing the Markets and Fairs Guide to Good Hygiene Practice. He also represents NABMA on the National Retail Planning Forum.
Krys was also a member of the Management Board of Manchester Food Futures – the City’s Food Strategy - and chaired the sub-group on Food Access from 2006-2008.
Krys was a member of the advisory group supporting the Joseph Rowntree Foundation research into Markets as sites for social interaction, the results of which were published in September 2006.
In 2008, Krys also contributed to the UK Government’s Cabinet Office review of national food policy – Food Matters: Towards a strategy for the 21st century, resulting in express policy support for farmers’ and traditional food markets.
Mike Brook - Speaker
Economic Development Officer, Wandsworth Borough Council. Mike is responsible for Wandsworth's economic development programme, town centre management initiatives, urban regeneration programmes, voluntary sector policy, and coordination of the Council's voluntary sector policy. He advises the Wandsworth Local Strategic Partnership on these matters and supports the Borough’s 5 town centre partnerships. Mike manages a budget of £5m pa and 23 staff.
Mike has over 36 years’ experience working for a wide variety of local authorities in
the United Kingdom helping to develop the local economies in Scotland, Cornwall,
West Yorkshire, Southampton as well as Wandsworth
Gary Marshall - Speaker
Bevington Salads is run by Gary Marshall, who is also Chairman of Covent Garden Tenants Association. Gary set up Bevington Salads at the age of 22 and many of his customers are independent retailers. While he acknowledges that this sector has declined dramatically over the years, he believes there are signs of resurgence in small shops and market stalls -
“the public wants something different to the supermarket, greater choice and better quality and personal service”.
These qualities are also the core strengths of New Covent Garden Market. When one of the Market’s customers, Paul Stein, won Market Trader of the Year award, Gary was delighted: “We are really chuffed that Paul has won this award. He has been buying at the Market for years and we are delighted to see great stall holders like Paul recognised”.
As Chairman of the Tenants Association Gary not only works to promote the Market but also represents the interests of his members in discussion with the Authority about the future of NCGM and other issues such as lease renewals.