Tomorrow will see the start of an event that will see Darlington Market Place play host to 300 stalls over four days.

It is hoped that the Market Spectacular will breathe new life into the market, which in recent years has become a shadow of its former self.

A number of reasons have been given for the decline - competition from supermarkets and Sunday trading laws being chief among them

However, it is not so long ago that up to 200,000 extra people would visit the town on bank holidays to go to the market.

As much as the railways, the markets define Darlington as a town.

As Robin Blair, a stallholder whose family have had a pitch in the market for 136 years, points out, the indoor market is the only building in Darlington - except for the churches - that was built for the purpose for which it is still used.

However, the market got off to an inauspicious start when it opened on May 2, 1864, at a cost of £16,356 8s 9d, and hosted the Northern Counties Fat Cattle Show.

The overloaded floor of the market gave way when a faulty beam cracked, resulting in the death of one farmer and three animals.

Nevertheless, this did not deter the stallholders and, in 1938, records show it hosted 37 butchers, 35 fruit and vegetable stalls, six florists, 15 poulterers, six grocers, seven sweet stalls, and six toy and gift stalls.

The more established outdoor market, going for nearly 1,000 years, may have initially lost some of its pitches to the new covered market as it was unable to sell fruit and vegetables outside.

However, this did not frighten off prospective stallholders for too long.

Up until the mid-1970s, there was a long waiting list for stalls.

Anyone wanting to take on a stall was known as a casual and had to wait until an established stall left or went out of business.

Preference was given to those who used to turn up on "spec" on market day in the hope of getting a pitch from someone who was unable to make it that day, or, it is whispered, had greased the palms of members of the appropriate council committee.

Allan Draper, chairman of the Darlington branch of the National Market Traders Federation, said: "It took my father four years to actually get a permanent stall.

"I remember once he didn't think there would be any chance he would get a stall, but he went down on the morning just so he could get his name ticked off and didn't bother filling the van.

"When he did arrive there was a space, so he had to pay for it and then go back home. After that he always used to fill the van."

Pitches were so hard to come by that inclement weather failed to deter most stallholders and early pictures show the market full despite several inches of snow on the ground.

Mr Draper added: "It wasn't like today where they go home as soon as the weather gets bad. First, you had to dig out your pitch, which had the benefit of keeping you warm.

"Then you had Frankie's lamps which were pressurised paraffin lamps which you used to rent each morning.

"They had enough pressure in them to last the day, but the best thing was they kept you warm as well."

In the recent past, the traders all agree, there have been three main threats to both the indoor and outdoor markets.

A plan in 1935 to build gardens and open spaces in the centre of town and move the markets to Feethams was abandoned after a public outcry.

There was the Shepherd Plan in the late Sixties, which planned to replace the market with a concrete car park and shopping centre.

This ultimately spelled the death knell for the Conservative-led council at the time because Labour campaigned on an anti-Shepherd plan ticket in the early- Seventies and won a landslide victory.

Finally, there was a the recent plan to build a Tesco hypermarket on the site of the town hall, which was defeated after an unprecedented campaign by residents, market traders and shopkeepers to "Say No" to the supermarket giant. While the market may not be as popular as it once was, traders believe it is about turn a corner.

A number of recent developments in the market are perhaps not as recent as everybody thinks.

When the covered market first opened, smoking was banned, but this bylaw was repealed in 1939.

It is only with the implementation of the ban on smoking in public places this year that it is once again forbidden.

The market recently welcomed a Polish stall to cater for the influx of Eastern European immigrants. Yet for many years, Basil Marsh's Polish delicatessen was a popular feature in the market.

Mr Blair added: "It's funny how things come full circle. Everybody's becoming very interested in markets now.

"The market used to be open from 3pm to 9pm - everybody thinks that late-night shopping's a new thing.

"Markets are exciting places and I've made some very good friends.

"This market event is about showing how good markets are, and that they're here to stay and to move forward and come back into their own again."