Fifteen years after its darkest moment during the Foot and Mouth crisis, the resurgent Norwich Livestock Market is still going from strength to strength, say its directors.

Every other Saturday, a busy hubbub of farmers, dealers and animals gathers in Norwich in a scene which echoes back thousands of years.

And the survival of the city's livestock market is as much a measure of its social culture as its agricultural importance to the region.

The industry, already weakened by the BSE crisis, was forced to its knees in 2001, when Foot and Mouth disease closed the Hall Road market, among many others.

But while others re-opened and failed, the resurgent Norwich Livestock Market has gone from strength, particularly in recent years as more animal testing requirements to halt the spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in other parts of the country has generated more demand for low-risk cattle.

The market's success has brought the site, built in 1960, back to being close to capacity – prompting recurring discussions and rumours about potential new venues.

It came to head in 2014, when the landowner, businessman Graham Dacre – who bought the site in 2010 and leased it back to the city council on a 99-year lease – imposed strict parking restrictions after revealing a long-term desire to develop the site, which he said is still his goal.

But with a charter in place guaranteeing the city council should make land available for livestock auctions, the market's managers say they have no plans to move.

Chairman Stephen Lutkin said: 'We are doing very well. The stock numbers are increasing every year.

'In the last few sales we are nearly full from one end of the market to the other. The potential problems we have are nice ones to have, because if we didn't have lots to sell there wouldn't be a problem.

'If the worst came to the worst and we had too much stock, we might think about going weekly at some points in the year when we are busiest.

'We have got an issue with car parking. At the moment B&Q (the DIY store which has a large parking area next to the market) are very helpful, but if anything happened to B&Q that would be a potential problem. But it would not close the market. We would work around that.

'We have in our favour a charter that says as long as the market is needed, the council has to provide one – and I think we have proved that it is needed.'

Auctioneer Philip Dale had previously worked in Yorkshire, Cheshire and Suffolk before 'resurrecting' his auctioneering career in Norwich in February, working alongside regular auctioneer Keith Rose.

He said the success of Norwich's market following its re-opening 2002 was partly down to geography, and partly down to its culture.

'After Foot and Mouth, this market re-started with a farmers co-op and a lot of the local buyers and sellers, farmers and agents, realised they were lost without a market. In East Anglia for example, you can either go to Newark or Melton Mowbray or Colchester, so you've got a long way to travel and all that extra cost. There is a business aspect and a social aspect that a lot of people missed.

'Coming back here to me seems like a throwback to the 1980s. I get the impression that people want to support the market and make sure it stays successful, because they couldn't do without it.'

Penelope Lucas, one of the shareholders of the market, said: 'It has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and the fortnightly sales regularly attract up to 200 buyers and sellers.

'It is probably because of our proximity to other markets. Norfolk and Suffolk are very sparsely populated and the agricultural heritage we have still got many smallholdings and they need somewhere to liquidate their assets.

'There is also the social side of the market. Many people attend week after week – they don't buy anything, probably haven't even got a yard or a field, but come for the chat around the tea van, because they have an interest in the stock and the excitement of a live auction.

'I am sure they know in their hearts they are part of the huge agricultural heritage that carries on in the 21st century that started here in Norwich in Norman times.'

Market memories

One person who remembers the previous market venue below Norwich Castle is 82-year-old David Pond, from Swardeston, who has been a regular at the cattle sales ever since 1954, when he worked as a clerk for auctioneering firm Irelands.

'It got very congested and very busy, with lorries coming into the centre of the city when people were coming up shopping,' he said. 'When it was by the Shirehall, cattle used to be driven to the station at Trowse. They used to go along King Street and particularly Ber Street and occasionally cars would get dented by cattle going past, so it was not really conducive for cattle to be in the centre of a busy city. It was not before time that the new market was built up in Harford (Hall Road).

'It was a real eye-opener. In 1960 there were five different banks had premises down there at the opening stage. Wives were dropped into Norwich to do a bit of shopping and the husbands came to the market. People came from all over Norfolk and Suffolk, and it was not just cattle and sheep, there were pigs, calves and poultry – everything.

'We had 1,000 cattle every week and our firm sold them one at a time. Other firms had store cattle and they were sold in bunches. In the middle of the 1960s there were so many cattle on Acle Marshes and by the River Waveney, we had so much stock that we had three or four buyers coming over from Holland. We used to start at 8 o'clock in the morning and we once carried on until 8 o'clock in the evening.'

History of the market

Positioned at the centre of a productive agricultural area, Norwich was an important centre for trade for many centuries.

The Saxon market was located in the Tombland area of the city, and after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a new market was established in the area known as the Mancroft. By the 1300s, the main market in Mancroft stretched from Guildhall Hill, almost to St Stephen's Church. Fish, meat, cloth, vegetables, shoes, livestock and many other items were all sold

By the end of the 1600s, the market was becoming very congested and in 1738 the livestock market was moved to the Castell Dykes, which is the area below the castle mound.

A major redevelopment in Norwich city centre in the 1930s with the building of City Hall, prompted the need for another move, which eventually happened in 1960 when the site at Harford opened at the same time as new markets in Shrewsbury and Gloucester, which have since closed.

Originally, the livestock market covered the whole of the area, and it was not until the development of the site to erect the B&Q DIY store that the market was reduced to its current size.

Now, it hosts fortnightly cattle and sheep markets, regular auctions of Fur and Feather, machinery, and rare breeds, and an annual Christmas poultry sale.