Millions of pounds worth of new upgrades at Newcastle’s Grainger Market should start later this year.
As a long-running restoration saga over the market’s roof finally draws to a close, much to the delight of traders and shoppers, focus is now very much on to how to spend a Levelling Up Fund grant to spruce up the historic site. For newer customers, the city centre market has become almost unrecognisable this week compared to its previous scaffolding-dominated state – with light now streaming through the entirety of the barrelled glass roof that had gone unseen for years during a troubled construction project.
But the work to breathe new life into the Geordie institution is far from finished. Newcastle City Council bosses have confirmed that they expect another set of improvements to get underway in the autumn, funded by £7m of Levelling Up money and an extra £2m from the local authority itself.
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Exactly what those changes will be remains unknown, though stallholders have made suggestions including a new food court, improved toilets, and improved marketing. Whatever improvements are made, however, they will have to be put in place quickly – with ministers having set a March 2024 deadline to spent the grant funding, which was awarded in 2021.
A spokesperson for Newcastle City Council said: “Our programme to transform the Grainger Market is continuing as planned. Consultation with the traders is ongoing and the new designs are progressing well, again with trader involvement. A contractor will be brought on board in the autumn to start the work in the market.
“The improvements to the market are being funded through £7m secured by Newcastle City Council from the government’s Levelling Up Fund with an additional £2m of match-funding from the council. The Government has indicated Levelling Up Fund money should be spent by March 2024.”
Also included in the successful Levelling Up bid was more than £10m for transformations of Old Eldon Square and Blackett Street – but both schemes were dropped by the local authority after a power struggle that saw Nick Kemp take over as council leader last year. It is still unclear what that funding will be used for, with the council having previously admitted that it had been “placed at risk” of being clawed back by the Government.
The Grainger Market’s roof renovation was originally announced in July 2017, but work did not begin until two years later. In November 2019, contractors Esh Build then had to put the refurbishment on hold for 20 months after “hidden problems” were uncovered at the market, which opened in 1835.
Structural weaknesses in the Grainger Market’s gable walls were blamed for the delays, while the city council approved an extra £1.9m of borrowing in 2021 to complete the project – taking its total cost to £5.15m.
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