HEREFORD'S Butter Market has stood as a central landmark in the city for years, but what are the stories of its past?

Dianne Campbell posted a photo of it in the 1960s on our Facebook group We Grew Up in Hereford, she wondered if people still called it the Butter Market.

The rich history of the place goes back to 1923, when it was rebuilt after a fire.

Today the hidden gem is a thriving indoor market with more than 35 individual stalls.

Jean Bishop said she got lost there when she was a little girl every Saturday.

"A gentlemen would carry me around until I found my mum," she said.

It was originally a butter and cheese market, which is how it got its name, and it has stuck ever since.

Dave Wood said he will always call it the Butter Market.

"I remembered the country ladies selling eggs, fresh vegetables, plants, jars of hams and picked from the trestle tables," he said.

While Ronald Bevan remembered getting a cheese sandwich with his mum on Saturday mornings.

There used to be a stall that sold fresh game, such as rabbits and pheasants, shot in Herefordshire then hung in a row ready for customers to buy.

Jean Phillips thought of the "lovely old lady" who sold marzipan for Christmas cake on another stall, and three generations of her family bought it from her.

Others remembered Mrs Lootits' fruit and vegetable in 1974 and the Peacocks' stall in the 80's – some even worked on it themselves.

But the smell of the Butter Market seems to be a fixed memory in people's minds – they complained of rotten cheese and fish.

It has two entrances: the front is from the centre of High Town under the clock tower and the other leads onto Maylord Street.

Stalls have come and go in Hereford's Buttermarket but few popular ones remain – Timpsons and Broughtons Pet Store.

Some new stalls have also made a name for themselves such as Divine Donuts for their different flavoured treats and Bao To The Broth with its south-east Asian cuisine.