The monthly markets have been closed since the March coronavirus lockdown.

Inflexible and unworkable COVID-19 social distancing restrictions imposed by NSW Health prevented Calala Rotary Club holding the markets.

That was until this week.

Organiser Barry Pratten said the Rotary Club have finally got a favorable reply from NSW Health with conditions they are capable of administrating.

Tamworth Regional Council confirmed on Friday it would permit the use of public footpaths for the event.

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As a result, the next Peel Street market is pencilled in for December 20, just five days before Christmas.

Mr Pratten said the news was "an early Christmas present".

Fellow organiser Peter Bagshaw said he hopes Rotary will be able to contact their usual stallholders over the weekend.

He said the event would be held according to a COVID-safe plan requiring them to make hand sanitiser available and with other obligations, but that they are "all doable".

"We're looking forward to getting our markets up and running again. Hopefully we'll have a good one," he said.

"It's been a fairly long time."

Mr Bagshaw said he hopes people will take the opportunity to buy their Christmas presents from local businesses.

In June, the Rotary Club had hoped they could reopen the markets by August.

At the time, Mr Pratten said rules designed for massive indoor Sydney markets like Paddy's Market in Haymarket had proven unworkable.

It's cost the charitable group likely thousands of dollars in donations in 2020. Ordinarily a monthly market would raise about $1000, and the group has been forced to cancel eight of them.

The Peel Street markets were first held in 1996.

Mr Pratten said they hope to be able to hold markets in January, taking advantage of the cancellation of Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Public health rules permitted both indoor and outdoor food markets without any restrictions at all, but general markets have to adopt a COVID-19 safety plan.

Organisers were forced even to take names of attendees, which proved to be an impossible task in the Tamworth CDB.

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