Birkenhead market traders have cautiously welcomed new £28m council plans to relocate the historic market.
In November 2021, Wirral Council approved plans to move the still-open market into a brand new building on the site of the old House of Fraser building in the town. The project is being developed by the council’s joint venture - the Wirral Growth Company - and forms part of major plans to regenerate the area. The new building is expected to open on Grange Road in 2025.
The council hopes for the new facility “to be one of the best markets in the UK and to provide a key attraction for the borough.” Predicted costs for the project are £28.25m though the local authority is still to find all of the money required for the scheme.
READ MORE: Woman accused of murdering partner tells court 'sometimes I can be a cow'
Funding is expected to come from Wirral Growth Company profits and money from selling land and buildings with £14.3m already coming from the government Future High Streets funding.
However the current market has struggled in recent years with traders saying a mixture of the pandemic, cost of living crisis as well as Wirral Council’s management of the site are to blame. Traders who spoke to the ECHO generally welcomed the plans but criticised some aspects from the size of stalls and the new location opposite a derelict hotel that’s become a hub for antisocial behaviour.
Tommy Roberts, from Moneysworth Butchers, said: “I think it’s all very positive. It’s long overdue. I have been here for about 40 years but this is the first talk of proper investment.”
Terry O’Reilly, who runs a glasses shop next door, said: “I think it’s about time that Birkenhead got some investment into it. Liverpool has had so much in recent years and the smaller towns aren’t getting it.”
Mr O’Reilly said coach parties used to visit the market but those days are long gone. He said: “It’s dead, It’s too big, too old so if you get a brand new building, it is going to bring in the people, it’s exciting.
“There is nothing for anybody here. We let a lot of key businesses go and move towards the big retail parks. Anything turning that around is all positive.”
However some businesses said a drop in footfall in the market was leaving the future of long-running family businesses in jeopardy.
Tracy Fitzpatrick, who runs Tracy Cosmetics, said footfall had started to come back after the pandemic but with the current cost of living crisis, people stopped coming to the market.
She said: “I only hope I will survive the next two years. I have never seen business so bad in all the time I have been here. The footfall is so awful. All our family worked here and it has been the family business.”
“The new market looks really good. I have been here 46 years but at the moment it is horrendous. We are struggling but we think it’s going to be about two years before we go into the new one.”
She added: “I still have some people who come to me regularly but they are not buying as much. The scary part is that we have less than two years to go until the new market. I really want to go into the new place.
“What I would like the council to realise is if they can help out with the rents, if they give us a bit of leeway with the rents, we might be able to hold on.
“You would never come into the market without seeing people but now you are lucky to see people at 11 o’clock. There’s not a soul around now. I used to have customers waiting to come in. It’s horrendous. I am surviving, not even surviving. I had to borrow the last two months' rent.”
Some businesses said they would have to see what the costs of the new market are before committing to moving to the new building. Others also wanted to see a commitment that current stalls are given priority in the new building, something they said they’ve not seen.
Michaela Murtaugh, who runs a tailors in the current market said she hadn’t been affected as much by the drop in footfall but would only move to the new market “if the rents are cheap enough.” She also wanted the new market to have an entrance on both sides of the building.
In 2017 Wirral Council bought the market to “stabilise the immediate future of the market, provide support for existing traders, and allow us to start planning for what the new Birkenhead Market will be.”
However Nick Adcock, from the Framing Shop, felt the council was to blame for a lot of the market’s troubles. He said: "I think business has suffered since the council took over. There has been the indecision about what is going forward and people have left because of the indecisiveness of the council.
“I've seen a lot of comings and goings about when we are getting it. Things don't seem to come to fruition and it feels like we are going around in circles. People also think this place has closed and that the new place is imminent.”
In a recent consultation over the new market plans, Wirral Council said: “The current market will continue to be open for business as usual and will stay there and remain trading as normal until the new market is complete.”
Nigel Buckmaster, from Wards Fish ,which moved out of the market in 2022 has long been sceptical of the council’s regeneration plans. He said he had no plans to move into the new market and will remain at their current location, adding: “I will believe it when I see it.”
He went on to add: “If it all goes well, I will eat my hat.”
Wirral Council and the Wirral Growth Company were approached for comment. Information on what traders operate in the market and at what times can be found here.
READ NEXT:
Connor Chapman pleads not guilty to murder of Elle Edwards outside Lighthouse pub
Dad, 37, dies after irritable bowel syndrome turned out to be cancer
How a line of cocaine at the weekend connects to Olivia's murder
'We're being targeted' - coffee shop smashed up three times in two weeks
