An historic Liverpool market is at risk of being forgotten and deteriorating “like a mushroom” that’s been “locked in a cupboard”.
Colin Laphan, chair of St Johns Market Traders Association, said improvements to the city’s oldest market have been put on the “backburner” despite an urgent need to turn its fortunes around. Last year Liverpool city council, which owns the market, conducted a consultation which asked the public and traders what they wanted to see at the city’s markets to improve their current offer.
Initial findings were discussed by the council’s culture committee in early February, but the associations claims it has been “four months of silence since”. Mr Laphan added how issues such as no air-conditioning, no working lift or escalators, some of which he claims date as far back as November 2016, have still not been rectified and are negatively impacting footfall and traders.
READ MORE: 'Soul destroying reality at Liverpool market that deserves to be great again
In January, one trader in particular who runs a printing stall told the ECHO they would be lucky to serve one customer a day due to the low levels of footfall the market is experiencing. Other traders mentioned how morale within St Johns Market was at an all time low.
The market has been involved in a long-running dispute with Liverpool City Council over the payment of service charges and rents, with traders showing the ECHO backdated bills for thousands of pounds earlier this year. The issues stem from 2016 when a “botched” £2.5m refurbishment led to a significant drop in footfall, leading to then Mayor Joe Anderson suspending rents in 2017.
The market closed when the pandemic hit in March 2020, reopening again in August the same year after a row with the council over traders not being able to return to their stalls . But tensions worsened when the council outlined it was looking to reintroduce full rents and service charges in order to sustain the costs of the market - which is said to have cost the council almost £1m in rent reduction and unpaid service charges between 2017 and 2020.
The reintroduction of rents was signed off by cabinet in January 2021 . Speaking at the beginning of 2021, Colin Laphan said traders had offered to start repaying rents on three occasions, but back dated bills covering months when the market was closed due to the pandemic led to “outrage” among stall holders.
Mr Laphan has now added that the consultation hasn’t led to some of the long standing issues being rectified, with little in the way of tangible improvements. He said that the council is however in the process of carrying out mediation with the market and its traders, which is taking place this week.
Mr Laphan told the ECHO: “As we've always said, we've very happy to pay a fair rent. But it's not a fair rent if there's no customers and we're working in 30 degrees with no lifts and no escalators.
“We're not happy to be exploited, we're not happy to be completely forgotten about and locked in a cupboard like a mushroom - which is what is going on at the moment. We're being ignored again.”
Mr Laphan said traders did not want to go past the scheduled mediation with the council without answers regarding the outstanding issues, as well as moving closer to a solution regarding the rent and service charge dispute. He added: “We don't want to be forgotten.”
When contacted by the ECHO regarding the worries expressed by St Johns Market Traders Association, a spokesperson for Liverpool City Council assured that “nobody has been forgotten.” The spokesperson also pointed towards July when a report on the city’s markets will go before the city council cabinet - which is expected to provide the framework for delivering improvements at markets like St Johns.
They added: “We are in the process of developing an ambitious and strategic direction for the city’s markets offer. Last year we launched a public consultation for people to have their say on our markets, and that feedback forms part of a brand new strategy which will work as a catalyst for their renaissance. A report will be presented to cabinet in July which is when the details will be publicly available.”
