Market opening pushed back to summer

A computer generated image of how the new market could look

The proposed opening date of the new Rochdale market has been pushed back yet again – this time to summer 2018.

Speaking at Wednesday’s council meeting (14 February), Councillor Andy Kelly said the new market was taking too long, and asked if the market would still be operational by Easter this year. 

Council leader Allen Brett responded the new market on The Butts and in the former Santander bank will open in summer 2018, whilst Councillor John Blundell added that the new market will consist of indoor stalls and a café.

The new permanent market, run by specialists Quarterbridge, was originally set to open by Easter 2017, a date which has long gone.

Clifford Harker, of the Haberdashery, said: “This is a pathetic response from the council.  If they let this go on much longer, they will kill the town altogether.

“They have got traders hanging on, hoping to get into the Santander building, but it is now a matter of if they can hold on much longer. They have already had their trading hours reduced with the three-day market.

“The market has been decimated with the way it has been played about. There is hardly anyone left and there is no sign of this firm brought in. They will probably lose all the traders and have to start from scratch.”

In the meantime, Rochdale Market is now operating three days a week from a new temporary location at Lord Square and the bottom of Yorkshire Street. Open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the stalls have reduced in numbers with 19 gazebo stalls available.

After close to four decades in the Exchange Shopping Centre, Rochdale Market was forced to move to the former 'Black Box' site in January 2015 – itself a temporary measure – where traders operated for two and a half years without basic facilities. Work on opening the river at the time prevented the move of the market to the preferred location of  The Butts.