25/05/2025
On March 23rd, 2020, the UK government announced the first lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a week earlier, TV presenter and marketing director Craig Wilde took to Facebook Live to highlight the lack of food on supermarket shelves and champion the fresh produce still available in Newcastle’s Grainger Market. That video reached over 250,000 people and triggered a flood of messages to local traders seeking food and deliveries.
Emma Claude Phillips, owner of The French Oven Bakery, saw an opportunity. Together with Craig, she helped launch a website to support these traders. The market’s food traders, led by Emma-Claude and supported by Craig and his marketing team, rallied together to build an expansive online shopping and delivery service for Newcastle and the wider North East.
A true “wartime” effort was underway. Craig reported daily via Facebook Lives and other social media platforms, promoted the service in the press, and managed the complex online store, with features in publications such as The Times, Evening Standard, Daily Mirror, The Sun, Financial Times, The Chronicle, and Northern Echo. Each day, traders and volunteers began packing food boxes at 6am, while a fleet of over 20 drivers—ranging from council workers to taxi drivers—delivered essential supplies. In its peak, the service turned over more than £1.2 million and reached over 60,000 customers.
This gargantuan effort spanned over two years, saving the food traders from closure and rescuing the world-famous Grainger Market from the brink of demise. However, with the end of lockdowns and a rapid return to “normality,” demand for the service quickly fell. Despite the best efforts of Craig and his team, the service eventually closed in spring 2023.
Today, we keep this page alive as a testament to that remarkable effort and the time, energy, and care shared by Emma-Claude, Craig Wilde, their families, the traders, and the people of Newcastle—who all came together to feed our communities and preserve the Grainger Market for generations to come.
