VIDEO: Take a look at the 'graveyard' temporary market as 'angry' traders share their 'shocking' year in review

‘Angry’ traders at the temporary market in Northampton have compared the site to like a ‘graveyard’ – except, ‘more people visit a graveyard’.

It has been a year since traders were moved off of the historic Market Square and down to Commercial Street car park, previously dubbed ‘death row car park’ by the late Eamonn Fitzpatrick.

The move came so West Northants Council (WNC) could plough on with £10m refurbishment works to the Market Square, which includes new paving, new bespoke stalls and a new water feature.

To help traders cope at Commercial Street, WNC offered free rent and has spent thousands of taxpayer money putting on entertainment to try and attract footfall – but this has been heavily criticised by traders.

WNC has also said 10 businesses have closed since the move to Commercial Street car park but eight new ones have opened, marking a net loss of two.

Chron and Echo went down to Commercial Street car park at 2pm on Tuesday (January 9) to ask traders for their year in review, their thoughts on free rent and the comings and goings on the site.

Nick Walters, of M&G Butchers, which has been serving the town for nearly 50 years, said it has been ‘shocking’.

He said: “Shocking. Terrible. Disgusting. A lot of traders have gone now. It’s just us left and it’s absolutely shocking. It’s 2pm and I’m going home because it’s that bad. There’s no one down here.

“Something’s got to happen quickly. I don’t like going home at 2pm but it’s freezing, no one’s down here, no one’s taking any money.”

Asked for his thoughts on the eight businesses opening at the site, Nick said: “It’s news to me. I haven’t seen eight businesses open here. It’s just the original ones left, the ones who have been on the market for years, and we’re all hanging on, struggling.”

"If you’re not taking any money then free rent’s no good. I’d rather be up in the town. I’d like to pay rent, work hard and make a profit. This is not how it should be.”

Fruit and vegetable trader Hung Vo has had to sell his house to keep himself and his employees going in the last year.

He said: “Look at this. It looks like a graveyard. More people visit a graveyard. We’ve got four traders open. I don’t know what we’re going to do.

"I’m angry at the council. I’ve sold my house now. I’ve got nothing left now. I’m in a rented place. I don’t think we’ll survive until late summer, when the market is supposed to reopen. I hope the council reads this and does something to help us. The events they put on don’t work."

Asked about the eight businesses that have opened, Hung laughed: “Where did they get that figure from? Can you ask the council to come down here and have a look what’s going on. Take a picture and show them. Tell the council to come down. Since we moved down here we haven’t seen any of them. They won’t dare come down here to have a look. It’s s***.”

On the free rent and entertainment, Hung said: “Free rent doesn’t matter if you’ve got no customers. Entertainment doesn’t help. Are children at an ice rink going to come and shop at the market? We told the council entertainment doesn’t help. They don’t listen. Would the council treat their family members like this if they owned businesses? I don’t think so.”

Fruit and vegetable vendor Mick Andreoli, who has been trading on the market for 58 years, said his year has been ‘disheartening’.

Mick said: “I don’t think I’ve earnt a penny today and I started at 5am. I’m packing up now, just gone 2pm, because I’ve had enough. It’s been that bad.

"It’s been disheartening. I’m despondent. Fed up. Some days all you want to do is go home. You’ve got to throw the food away because you’ve sold none of it.

"Last year, when we first started, it was pretty full down here, probably because of the novelty of it. But now we’ve got four [full-time] traders and four fast foods. That’s all we’ve got.

"It’s just too much of an effort for people to come down here. We get a few on Saturday but that’s about it.

"The alleyway next door to The Moon on The Square, they could have turned that into a beautiful little market. It would have been a win-win. But the stubborn councillors wouldn’t listen to the traders about that. The council just don’t want a market in town, it wants an eating, drinking and gambling town for those living here and commuting to London. They’ve destroyed a beautiful town.”

Asked about the eight businesses opening, Mick said “The new businesses aren’t businesses, they’re bits and bobs people. They come here at 11am, throw a few bits on and go home at 2pm. Their business is a hobby, my business is supposed to be a living. I’ll do 12 hours a day, they’ll do three. If there wasn’t free rent here they wouldn’t come."

Asked for his thoughts on the next year, Mick said: “I don’t think the market will ever recover. And I don’t think the town centre, as we used to know it, will ever recover. All it will be is an eating, drinking and gambling town. A mini Las Vegas.”

Elliott Jones, who runs Tony Jones Florist, which had been trading from its stall on the Market Square for more than 100 years, moved into the Grosvenor Centre instead of Commercial Street.

The florist said: “It’s been a big change. I was very upset to leave the market, it was really weird. We came into the Grosvenor and it’s worked out well because we haven’t got the challenges of the elements. It's been a positive for me but it’s not been a positive for the town overall, I don’t think, at this point.

"Footfall is everything. That’s what we said to the council originally. We knew Commercial Street wasn’t going to work, there's no footfall. Without footfall you haven’t got a business. It’s such a shame what’s happened.

“The council have done what they’ve done, no one agreed to Commercial Street but they ran with it and it’s been proven to be the wrong decision. Will they say how much it’s all cost? I’d say half a million. They could have just compensated the traders and said, ‘see you in 18 months’, but they didn’t, they stuck to it. We’ve just got to see how it plays out now and remain positive.”

Another business that has been affected by the refurbishment works is Praca Portuguese Coffee, based in Market Square.

The business, owned by Renato Melo, sits right next to 10 ft hoardings covering up the construction site on the square.

Renato said: “It affects us because we don’t have that many customers now. Now we just have regulars. No one else is coming. It’s more quiet. We’ve lost more than 40% revenue over the last year. And now WNC is going to move the barriers so we can’t have seats outside, so it’s going to get even harder. WNC hasn’t told us when or for how long, so we can’t even plan our business. It's very important, the space outside. Soon it is gone. I’ve asked for compensation for the revenue lost, WNC said there’s no such thing. Costs are going up, my income is going down and they don’t want to compensate.

"It is very hard. We don’t whether to plan for next year, if you can make it to next year. I hope they will finish the market this year, but I don’t think they will. I don’t believe it will be done by the summer. If I don’t have the seating outside for the summer, it will be very bad.”

WNC response

A WNC spokeswoman said: “We are delighted to see the progress being made in the regeneration of our historic market square alongside the proposed STACK leisure complex set which will provide a diverse mix of family entertainment, food and drink. This combined investment of over £20m will see both footfall and the leisure economy in Northampton town centre rocket, attracting people and further investment.

“WNC continues to work in collaboration with the traders and listen to and respond to their concerns and opportunities, as well as those raised by the public. As with many retailers and hospitality venues, January tends to be a quieter month following the festive season and footfall is lower, and as a result many traders choose to take a break during January and February. However we were pleased to see a 16% increase in stalls occupied in the 2 weeks before Christmas as we extended our free events programme throughout December with family ice-skating and curling following the free summer events which took place during the summer holidays. We are also continuing to work with Bounds to offer free taxi journeys from the bus station to the market.

“Since the market relocation to Commercial Street in 2022, we have seen traders leave the market but are also encouraged by the 8 new businesses that have started up. We acknowledge that even the most successful markets lose and gain traders regularly as people’s circumstances change and we are pleased that two traders continue trading in the Grosvenor Centre with a view to returning to the market in the future.

“We have always acknowledged that the temporary move would be challenging but was necessary in order to make the much-needed change which will benefit the entire town and as such we continue to support those businesses in the belief that the new market will be a great place to do business.

“We look forward to continuing to work with all town centre traders and businesses to keep them informed throughout the process and look forward to opening this new, exciting and rejuvenated space for everyone to enjoy this summer.”