THERE was a very sad atmosphere on Saturday at the last market to be held at Bridge End Auction Mart.

Many retired farmers made a special visit to pay tribute to the market once hailed as the biggest dairy auction in the North. In its heyday, 30 years ago, so many cattle farmers made the journey to Bridge End that special tents were put up to house the beasts.

But now with the steady decline in the farming industry, changes in Europe's agricultural policies and the huge impact of the BSE crisis, the auction mart had become a shadow of its former self.

Farmers say it was inevitable. A town the size of Otley - the only one in the country to run two separate auction marts - could not continue to do so. One had to go.

Maybe so, but the closure is symptomatic of the problems Otley has to face in the 21st century as a traditional market town, and it will do well to hold on to such status. Through history, the prosperity of these towns has been based upon farmers bringing their animals and produce to market and selling them

The advent of one-stop shopping in superstores - where food items are bought nationally and internationally and transported into town - has drastically reduced the number of small independent shops which bought locally.

These shops have been replaced by banks, building societies and, latterly a plethora of charity shops. Consequently, gone are the days when sons or daughters followed their parents into the farming industry.

Nowadays, they look to other sources of income and other ways to make the most of their land and who can blame them?

In the meantime, the door has not just closed on yet another part of local history. More than that - Otley as a traditional market town has slipped a further notch.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.