Love Your Local Market 2026 has delivered a strong year of digital growth, positive engagement and national campaign visibility, with early performance figures showing increased reach across key channels.
Following the close of the official campaign period, the results point to a campaign that reached wider audiences, generated more online engagement and strengthened the national profile of local markets.
This year’s campaign, built around the themes PROUDLY LOCAL. and MAKE IT A MARKET DAY., introduced refreshed branding, updated campaign resources, new social media templates and an improved website to support markets taking part across the UK.
The result was a more confident, more visible and more joined-up campaign, helping markets celebrate their traders, promote local pride and encourage people to make it a market day.
Love Your Local Market 2026 achieved an estimated social reach of 1.9 million, with campaign monitoring also recording 100% positive sentiment.
That is an especially important result.
It shows that the campaign was not only seen by large audiences, but warmly received by the markets, traders, visitors, councils, partners and supporters taking part.
The strongest campaign conversations centred on local markets, market days, local traders, independent businesses, fresh produce, community pride and supporting local.
That reflects exactly what Love Your Local Market set out to achieve: a positive national spotlight on the value of markets and the people who make them special.
The Love Your Local Market website also saw strong growth during the campaign period.
Website users increased by 38%, new users rose by nearly 40%, and total sessions were up by 35%.
Page views increased by 17%, while website events and interactions rose by 20%.
This shows that the campaign was not only reaching people on social media, but encouraging them to visit the campaign website, explore the map, access resources, read campaign news and find out more about taking part.
The website has become a much stronger campaign hub, supporting markets before, during and after the official campaign dates.
Facebook and Instagram continued to be the strongest public-facing platforms for Love Your Local Market.
Facebook was particularly successful, with views up strongly and the engagement rate increasing by more than 300%.
That level of growth reflects the strength of visual, community-focused campaign content, especially posts featuring traders, market visits, campaign photos, local celebrations and positive market stories.
Instagram also performed well, with views up by more than 58% and follower growth up by 74%.
The platform proved especially effective for trader stories, food content, young trader features, short video, colourful market imagery and shared posts from markets across the country.
Together, Facebook and Instagram remain central to how markets and communities are engaging with Love Your Local Market online.
One of the strongest developments from LYLM2026 was the growth of LinkedIn as a stakeholder and professional engagement platform.
LinkedIn impressions increased by more than 90%, engagements rose by more than 166%, and post clicks increased by more than 200%.
This is a significant result for NABMA and for the future of the campaign.
It shows that Love Your Local Market is not only a public celebration, but also an effective platform for reaching market operators, councils, sector partners, sponsors, local government audiences and professional networks.
Content involving NABMA Chief Executive David Catterall DL, market visits, sector updates and campaign leadership performed particularly well, helping position Love Your Local Market as both a celebration and an advocacy platform for the markets sector.
X also contributed to wider campaign visibility, with impressions up by almost 49%, engagements up by almost 48% and shares up by 70%.
The campaign also continued to test and develop newer channels including TikTok, Bluesky and Reddit.
These remain early-stage platforms for Love Your Local Market, but they help broaden the campaign’s digital footprint and provide useful opportunities for future growth, especially around video, trader stories, young traders and community-led content.
The performance data shows a campaign with strong momentum.
The clearest successes were:
Taken together, these figures show that Love Your Local Market 2026 achieved stronger visibility, wider digital engagement and a more positive national conversation around markets.
They also show the value of investing in refreshed branding, clearer messaging, updated resources and a more active multi-platform campaign.
Almost 200 markets registered for LYLM2026 from a standing start.
This is a positive result, particularly in a challenging environment for many markets, councils and local authority teams.
However, the wider digital activity suggests that participation extended well beyond formal registration.
Many markets appeared to take part by using the campaign hashtags, sharing posts, celebrating traders, promoting events and joining the national conversation without necessarily completing formal registration.
That wider participation is important.
It shows that Love Your Local Market continues to have strong recognition across the markets sector, and that campaign engagement is broader than registration alone can measure.
The strongest campaign content had a clear pattern.
Audiences responded to real people, real markets and real stories.
Trader stories, market personality posts, young trader content and colourful market-day activity performed strongly throughout the campaign.
Market visit content also proved effective, particularly posts featuring David Catterall DL visiting Bolton Markets and Bury Market.
A standout moment came from Rick Stein’s support for the campaign, which generated more than 4,000 views and gave Love Your Local Market strong national visibility.
“LYLM in the News” content also helped demonstrate wider reach, highlighting how local media, councils and market partners were using the campaign to tell positive stories about markets, traders and local communities.
Love Your Local Market 2026 was proudly supported by Andy Thornton Ltd as the official campaign sponsor.
Their support helped strengthen the campaign and gave Love Your Local Market a firmer platform for national promotion, market engagement and digital growth.
Andy Thornton’s connection to markets, food halls, hospitality, retail environments and place-making made them a natural partner for a campaign celebrating the spaces where traders, businesses and communities come together.
NABMA is very grateful to Andy Thornton Ltd for supporting Love Your Local Market 2026 and helping champion the future of markets across the UK.
The campaign also recognised practical support for new traders, including free insurance support from G M Imber & Sons Ltd for eligible new starter traders taking part in LYLM2026.
The celebration of Love Your Local Market 2026 is not over yet.
Next week, the LYLM2026 Champions will be announced, recognising some of the markets, traders, teams and campaign moments that helped make this year’s campaign so special.
The Champions will shine a spotlight on the creativity, energy and community spirit shown throughout the campaign.
A special Love Your Local Market edition of Market View will also follow, sharing more insights, stories and news from across the country.
Love Your Local Market 2026 has shown the value of building a stronger campaign identity, better digital resources and a more active multi-platform approach.
The refreshed branding, updated website, improved social media templates and expanded digital activity have created a stronger base for future growth.
The campaign has also reinforced a clear message: markets remain vital to local communities, and they deserve confident, modern and visible promotion.
Planning is already underway for Love Your Local Market 2027, which will take place from Friday 14 May to Saturday 29 May 2027.
After the success of PROUDLY LOCAL. and MAKE IT A MARKET DAY., the campaign will continue to build on these themes next year, with a very special twist to be announced later this year.
For now, the message from LYLM2026 is clear.
The reach grew.
The engagement grew.
The conversation stayed positive.
And Love Your Local Market has taken another important step forward.
