Traders in Wigan say the closure of a popular car park is the 'final nail' in the coffin for business owners in the once thriving market town.
The Wigan Council announced the closure of the The Galleries car park in the town centre due to anti-social behaviour from Friday (February 25).
According to local business owners, the move to close the car park has been met with 'anger' as traders face diminishing sales and uncertainty about their future in the wake of the £190m major redevelopment that was greenlit last year.
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As part of the new redevelopment plans, The Galleries shopping centre, home to Wigan market for the last 30 years, will be demolished to make way for a 150-room hotel, 464 homes and a multimedia centre with a cinema, 10-lane bowling alley and indoor mini golf.
Much of the town centre will be fenced off during construction, however, the market will remain open.
Mike O'Connor runs a fashion and shoes stall at the market and says they the impact the car park's closure will have on businesses will be 'devastating'.
He said: "There are lots of kids hanging around between 3:30pm and 6pm. They all come into Wigan, they're throwing fire extinguishers off the top of the car park putting the public at risk.
"They've brought the closure forward now and we're going to lose 600 car parking spaces which is going to have a devastating effect on businesses, especially the market traders and whatever shops are left here trading into March.
"There's gonna be a lot less footfall, we're told already that our footfall has decreased by 70% And when this car park which is right next to the market goes, the nearest ones are going to be 300-400 yards away. A lot of our customers are pensioners and mothers with prams and it's a long way to walk for them.
"A lot of the business owners are very angry and morale is at an all time low, they feel like they've been hung out to dry. We've been handed over to the developers and the council have turned their back.
"The very businesses that have been here for two to three generations, generated millions of pounds in rents for them in the past now are just being shunned, its quite sad really."
Tony Porter who runs a game store at The Galleries believes closing the car park earlier isn't the answer to stopping the anti social behaviour in the area.
"I don't have a problem with kids, my shop is primarily a game shop. One expects youth to come in and have a nosy," he said.
"However, I have seen children climbing on places that they shouldn't be climbing.
"They're just bored. What they probably need is something a little more constructive to do.
"We are lucky in the fact that we've got Wigan Youth Zone which is an enterprise that we've got nearby, but it's not there all the time and not a lot of kids go there because they say it feels like school.
"They just need something to occupy their minds, and the problem we've got is that in an empty shopping centre there's less people around. So there's more area for them to congregate and get up to mischief."
Bob and Olive Ogden who run a kids clothes store on the market say the handling of the shopping centre has been a 'disgrace'.
Olive said: "The town is a complete disgrace, the car park is closing this weekend and shops starting to close, we've got another two years here and we don't know what they're doing.
Bob continued: "It is bad with teenagers at the moment, they come in here at 4pm and the security people have ten doors to watch.
"But they've cut the security down, there's one security person on, and there's eight doors to watch, they could just hire more staff or reopen the car park they sold to the NHS.
"It feels like they're dragging the rug from underneath our feet.
"It's just terrible what they're doing, it's an absolute shambles."
John Theaker who runs a handbag store on the market says the latest news could see him leave after 30 years at the market.
"It'll effect us massively, especially with what's going to happen in the next few months." He said.
"The closure of the car park is the final nail in the coffin. There's no footfall coming, you can sit here for an hour and not see a person walk past yet the rents are still the same and they're not offering us any compensation.
"We're hanging on to see what the new market is going to be like and that's two years away. How can we afford to stay here for two years?
"Any moment now, I'm ready to put my notice in and just pull out, it's that bad honestly."
Sheila Bailey who runs a women's clothes store believes the council used anti-social behaviour as a reason to close the car park earlier than expected.
She said: "I think it's an excuse. They say they've not enough staff but look at the revenues off cars. On the weekends it's packed.
"How we're going to survive I don't know."
Watch store owner Jonathan Lamb said: "The market's open for two years but in all honestly I don't think they're gonna last that long.
"There's other towns who were once in Wigan's shadow like Chorley creeping up now, they're booming.
"The council can't see what's in front of them."
On Wednesday (February 23) Wigan Council said: "The Galleries car park will be closing to members of the public from Friday 25th February due to safety concerns over the increased anti-social behaviour on site.
"The shopping centre and Wigan market will remain open as usual so please keep supporting your local traders and retailers.
"Alternative town centre carparks can be found on our website here: www.wigan.gov.uk/carparking
"Parking is currently free on council car parks at weekends.
"The nearest car parks are Water Street multi-storey, Mona Street car park and Harrogate Street car park."
