NI homebuilder sponsors the 2023 Comber Farmers’ Market

​The Ballyclare homebuilder previously supported the award-winning Comber Farmers’ Market until the pandemic hit and forced it to cease trading. It returned in 2022. Now Hagan Homes is pledging its support for, what is, the ninth year of the market.

Running on the first Thursday of every month, Comber Farmers’ Market features produce from local growers, small producers, makers and recently introduced artisan craft.

It was started by Comber Regeneration Community Partnership in a bid to regenerate Comber and create an opportunity for local growers and food producers to sell their goods as well as increasing footfall to the town.

The result has been an influx of visitors and tourists to the town which has clearly helped to put Comber on the map.

Philip Smith, Chair of Comber Regeneration Community Partnership (CRCP), said: “Comber Farmers’ Market has grown so much since the first event in July 2014, and as a result we have an award-winning monthly artisan food event that attracts thousands of visitors a year, putting Comber firmly on the food tourism map for NI.

“With much thanks to Hagan Homes for their renewed two year sponsorship, we can take Comber Farmers’ Market to the next level letting existing and new visitors enjoy the spoils of the very finest food and produce from Northern Ireland.”

Hagan Homes is well underway with multiple construction stages of its Enler Village development in Comber, which will create 900 homes, a business park, a nursing home, sheltered accommodation, a creche and retail units. Additional features include linked pedestrian facilities with Comber Town Centre and extended saltmarsh.

Jim Burke, Director of Sales and Acquisitions at Ballyclare-based Hagan Homes, said renewal of the Comber Farmers’ Market sponsorship is a further commitment to the community there.

He said: “When Hagan Homes’ commits to building in a community it always fulfils its moral obligation to support that community as it does us. In Comber, we are doing this by renewing our support for the successful Comber Farmers’ Market, which is an important aspect of life in the village and a tourist attraction in its own right.

“We are delighted to return and wish the Farmers’ Market much success with its growth and evolution of the event.”

Comber Farmers' Market is held on the first Thursday of the month from 9am-1.30pm in St Mary's Parish Church car park, the Square, Comber. This year there will be over 26 regular traders selling artisan food and plants.

The range includes bread, cheeses, vegetables, fruit, cakes, traybakes, tarts, quiches, eggs, olives, jams, chutneys, fish, dry cured bacon, sausages, gammon, kid-goat meat, flowers, bedding plants, chocolate, sauces, and oils.

In addition, the ladies of St Mary’ church catering committee provide morning tea, coffee and homemade scones, buns and biscuits in the church hall.