Malton is a quaint market town which in recent years has seen a gentrification of the area, with affluent clothes shops, cafes and specialist food outlets opening. There is a monthly food market, a regular market each Saturday and it plays host to the Malton Food Festival twice per year in May and September. The number of artisan food producers has increased in the area due to the introduction of the Talbot Yard, where you can purchase gelato, own blend roasted coffee and beer from its micro brewery. 2018 is the 10th year that it has been held and it is as popular as ever with over 30,000 visitors expected over the two days. It was very busy when we visited with so many stalls it was difficult to know where to start.
Source: Carol Leyland own photograph
The market square had stalls with rare breed meats, speciality cheeses, oils and pop up bars and cafes where people gathered to meet friends and watch the world go by. All of these traders have come to the area to cash in on the new popularity of the town, which at one point was very run down. However, thanks to the drive of the Fitzwilliam Estate lead by Tom Naylor-Leyland and his vision of making Malton the food capital of the north, this has changed. This has lead to Malton being named as one of the top ten places to live in the UK in 2018 by the Sunday Times.
Source: Carol Leyland own video
The towns popularity, including its new and exotic foods, ideas and trade spans back through the centuries and can be seen at the Roman fort. The main finds that have come out of the trenches have been very domestic. We have found a lot of oyster shells, animal bones and pottery shards such as grey ware, samian and decorated pottery. It is thought that Roman Malton originated from people moving to the area to trade with the soldiers at the fort. The Romans would have brought with them exotic olive oil, olives, wines and fruits all of which could be found at the Food Festival. The food for sale was mainly all local, produced by farmers who are diversifying their farms to keep them viable. This includes cheese produced on farms using their own cows milk, producers of rare breed pork and beef, rape seed oil processing, all of which is a fairly new product to the market. The Romans would have felt at home at the Talbot Hotel which had its own Oyster Bar in the gardens.
Malton’s future looks very bright, it is a popular place to live and an easy commute to York and onto major road networks. There are major plans to redevelop the market square and build many new houses off the Castle Howard Road. In the next few months there will be a food race that Tom Naylor-Leyland has named the Marathon de Malton which will incorporate food and drink over a 10k race. After the popularity of the Talbot Yard the estate intend to create another called the Middleton Yard near to the market square creating new accommodation and business premises. The future of Malton as a food destination seems very well established and looks set to continue.
The Malton Story 