A POP-UP independent marketplace is returning to Brighton this weekend, providing local brands a boost following coronavirus restrictions.

The Pop-Up Club will launch at Dukes Lane today, showcasing sustainably sourced and handmade items, and stay in the city for six weeks.

30 small businesses from Brighton and beyond are taking part, ranging from luxury refillable candles from Isle of Avalon to toys and interiors produced from renewable and organic materials by Too Many PJs.

Tillie Peel, founder of The Pop-Up Club, explained that they were eager to return to Brighton after their last pop-up marketplace around Christmas last year was cut short by the second lockdown.

“What was meant to be a six-week pop-up was only three weeks. We really wanted to come back and do longer, and the summer was the perfect time to come back”, she said.

With the pandemic hitting the retail sector severely hard, in particular smaller local businesses, Peel sees The Pop-Up Club as a way of providing another way for them to sell to the public and attract people back to shopping in-person.

“For years, independent businesses have been priced out of UK high streets, with rising rents and rates, and especially with lockdown.

“We make it possible for small start-ups to test products in a real-life retail shop; some businesses we’ve worked with have then gone on to open their own shops.”

After several months of lockdown and isolation from socialising, Tillie hopes The Pop-Up Club can bring people back together with their unique face-to-face shopping experience.