Source A: The market after closing time

A newspaper article by Leah Grant

The council’s plan would replace the town’s covered market with a row of small offices and a public square. Its consultation document calls the project “a better use of a central site”. It describes the market as “in need of a new purpose”.

On Friday mornings, stallholder Rosa Malik lays out apples, jars of honey and bundles of herbs beneath the market’s iron roof. “Some people come for one thing; some come to talk,” she said. “You won’t see that in a count of the bags they carry.” The council’s survey recorded visitor numbers during two weekday afternoons in February. It does not say whether those visits were typical.

A council planner said the roof needs substantial work and that the proposed offices would help fund changes to the square. “We have to think about what the whole town needs,” she said. A group of traders has offered to help organise weekend events. Its spokesperson, Malik, says the traders have not yet been told how much the repairs would cost or whether they could remain in the building while work took place.

The council suggests that shoppers use the supermarket on the edge of town. It is a 25-minute walk from the market, according to the council’s access notes. The planner said the supermarket offers “a wider choice under one roof”. Malik replied that it was “not somewhere you stop to ask how someone’s mum is doing”. The council has not said whether the proposed square would include space for regular stalls. The consultation closes in three weeks, with a decision expected later in the year.

At closing time on Friday, a boy came back to Malik’s stall because he had left his sketchbook there. Malik had kept it safe behind the counter. The boy thanked her, then paused to draw the old clock above the entrance. “That clock has heard a lot of conversations,” Malik said. The council’s document calls the redevelopment “a fresh start”.