John Phillips takes Dean Bailey on a foodie trip of Newcastle’s Grainger Market
It’s windy, it’s raining and I’m running up Grey Street because I’m late.
Reaching the Grainger Market entrance archway unscathed apart from a wet trouser leg and a puddle in my shoe, I set about exploring the alleyways of the market to find John Phillips and our photographer, who has already dragged my interviewee away from our meeting place.
John Phillips is a hard man to track down. The man behind Oliver’s Café and Sloppy Joe’s US-style sandwich stall, his daughter Emma-Claude runs the French Oven bakery and patisserie, while he is also chairman of the Traders Association – which means he could be anywhere.
So, I weave my way through the alleyways, trying to remember which ones I’ve already been down. Passing the foodie delights of Pizza by the Slice, La Petite Crepêrie, and French Oven before I get to Sloppy Joe’s, where John is decked out in whites, apron and flat cap while our photographer snaps away.
My lack of direction is unforgivable considering the fact that I have been coming here since I was a child for my weekly bag of bullets from the sweet stall, and it transpires that John too has been wandering these alleys since childhood. “It was a very different place back then, and if I close my eyes I can still see hares, rabbits and poultry hanging up, with blood dripping onto the sawdust on the floor,” he says.
The market has come a long way, particularly in the last four or five years, thanks to a resurgence in the number of visitors.
“The markets team at Newcastle City Council has got a good mix of traders in the market and that’s created a great vibe,” says John. “I think people are beginning to move away from shopping in supermarkets. They realise that markets offer fantastic produce and price, and there’s a community spirit here.”
With access to the freshest produce in Toon, it’s no wonder there are foodie outlets queuing up to get a stall. The market has also been boosted by the trend for street food, says John.
“Here in the market, Pizza By The Slice always seems to have a huge queue outside. The French boys are doing really well with their crêpes, Pet Lamb Patisserie is really popular and French Oven is thriving. There’s also a place doing chips and curry sauce for £1 and you can walk up the same alley and get an oyster for £1.20.”
There are new ventures popping up, including stalls specialising in the likes of dim sum and Turkish street food alongside the butchers, fishmongers and watch repairers your seasoned market-goer would expect to find.
John worked in the hotel industry in Africa in the 1980s and alongside Fenwick on its first gourmet sandwich bar in the 1990s as well as launching his own sandwich business selling 3,000 per day. “With Sloppy Joe’s, I wanted to create an American-style eatery, and the Sloppy Joe sandwich fitted in well with the street food concept. We use chicken breast fresh from the market and cook it in front of people – it couldn’t be fresher. The mince is slow-cooked and fresh from the market too, as are the veg.”
John also has the inside track on the best bread in Toon, thanks to having his own bakery business turning out more than 3,500 bread buns a night in the West End of Newcastle. “It’s slow-proved and baked fresh every day,” he says. “With quality food from a range of countries, we’re attracting young people to the market.
“We’re working on getting a mix of people from the boys coming in for a sandwich at lunchtime to Mrs Bloggs who’s being buying the meat for her Sunday roast here for 40 years.
“We’re not perfect. The roof leaks and it can be cold in here, but we’re working on fixing that and I think we will see more and more people coming to the market for quality produce and quality food too.”
