Council stays silent on plans for traders to return to Northampton's Market Square as 'Fresh Market' shop set to open directly opposite

A new ‘Fresh Market’ fruit and vegetable shop is set to open in Northampton town centre directly opposite the brand new Market Square.

Signs have gone up advertising the new ‘Fresh Market Farm’ in Abington Street, located at the former Revolution Radio unit.

This comes at the same time as the ongoing £10 million redevelopment works to Market Square.

Traders, including fruit and vegetable stall holders, were kicked off the Market Square in February 2023 while these works take place. They say they have been ‘struggling’ to make a living down at the temporary site in Commercial Street car park due to a lack of footfall.

It is not yet known if traders at Commercial Street will be returning to the Market Square once it is completed. West Northants Council (WNC) has revealed no details as of yet despite the project supposedly set for completion this summer.

If the original fruit and vegetable traders do return, this new fruit and vegetable shop could be seen as another hurdle they will have to face.

This newspaper asked WNC if it talked to market traders about the new shop’s impact.

Councillor Daniel Lister, the person in charge of town centre regeneration at WNC, said: “Competition is part of the normal business environment and market traders are as able as anyone else to take premises in the town centre, along with the liabilities that come with that.

“We are in the process of developing our strategy to support all traders when they return to Market Square and we will outline those in due course, once we have discussed them with traders themselves.”

WNC confirmed that the new shop did not need planning permission because the ‘unit was already designated for retail so no planning permission was required’.

Future of the Market Square

This newspaper recently asked WNC a series of questions about its plans for the reopening of the brand new Market Square.

We asked…

Who is going to occupy the stalls? Has WNC got a vision for who is going to move into these stalls?

How much will rent be per stall, per month?

Has any business/trader already secured a stall? If so, who?

Could there be empty stalls on opening day?

Will traders down Commercial Street be given any discounted rent to move into these stalls given their businesses have been heavily damaged in the past year?

Have any Commercial Street traders signed a contract to move back on?

WNC responded saying: “We are in regular dialogue with the traders regarding the re-opening of Market Square later on this summer. As plans for the opening progress we will share this with the local media and the public.”