The Green Beans Market
Runs on the last Sunday of the month from January – November (inclusive) inside Whitley Bay Metro Station from 10 am to 3 pm. The Market is part of the family of not-for-profit organisations based in, and adjacent to the Whitley Bay Metro station that form the Station Master’s Centre.
The market financially supports all activities at the Station Master's Centre, but was established primarily to support the garden. From the outset it was decided to make Green Beans distinct from other markets in the wider area. The stalls that trade at the market have to have one or more of the following characteristics: Sell up-cycled or recycled products; promote growing and gardening; involve creativity; contribute to the health and wellbeing of people and the environment. We may be small, but our ambitions are much bigger. We want to show there are other ways to live well and support communities.
What’s at the Market?
The Market offers a coffee shop, and wide variety of stalls, such as art and crafts, food, gardening & plants, up-cycled jewellery, events and workshops as well as an entertainment programme involving local performers. The market also supports local charities and environmental/social groups that provide information and/or sell products related to their causes. The market provides an opportunity for local artists and businesses to try out ideas at low cost.
Who runs the Market?
The Market is organised by volunteers who live in Whitley Bay and surrounding areas. The Market group works in partnership with Nexus Tyne and Wear Metro, Nexus. Green Beans is the only community-run not for profit market on a metro network in the UK that is not for profit and community run.
Growing
To prosper well into the future, the Green Beans Market supports any opportunity to 'grow your own'. Planting locally, eating locally, all contribute to replenishment of the earth's systems and to our collective health and well-being.
Thinking
The market supports and encourages alternative approaches that foster well-being for people and the planet. This is why we provide supported stalls to organisations such as Friends of the Earth who we see, in so many ways, really and honestly, are friends of the earth.
Creating
Creative solutions are at the heart of all that we do, and need to do for the well-being of community health and well-being. Into the future, the Green Beans Market is concerned to ensure our well-being is connected to where we live, how we live, and to ensure that everyone lives well - no matter where they live.
Eating
The market, like the Station Masters' Centre, supports a 'source to senses' approach to food and eating. From the garden where there are opportunities to learn about 'sourcing' food, to the market where you can buy plants to grow at home or source locally produced products, we believe in keeping our community connected to where food comes from .