Shambles Market in York is open again for business and hoping for a great Bank Holiday weekend following its £1.6 million refit. STEPHEN LEWIS went along to find out what stallholders and customers think of the new look.

OVER at Shambles Market, Steve Franks is indulging in a bit of friendly banter with a customer.

Lynn Dove and her daughter, Julie, have just bought a couple of pairs of shoes and are delighted with their haggling skills.

“I made quite a good deal there,” says Lynn.

“A good deal,” says Steve, aghast. “You nearly pinched them off me.”

It’s a cold, blustery afternoon just before the Easter weekend, nine days after stallholders officially moved back into the newly refurbished market.

The council has spent £1.6 million doing up what was once known as Newgate Market. There is new Yorkstone paving, plus repairs to cobbled areas; new overhead canopies to make the market seem lighter and provide better protection from the weather; improved drainage and guttering; built-in LED lighting; and, at the southern end, seven new kiosks – of which four will be food outlets – and what will ultimately be a seating area.

It all sounds good on paper. But what do the market traders and their customers think of it all?

“There’s been a lot of money spent, and some people are saying ‘what have you spent it on?’, says Steve, who has been running his Steve’s Shoes stall for ten years. “But the stalls are much better, and the market is airier and brighter. It is definitely better than it was.”

 

York Press:

Stallholder Steve Franks with customers Julie Dove and her mother, Lynn

Lynn and Julie agree. Lynn, 56, from Haxby, has been coming to the market all her life. “It is lighter and brighter,” she says. “You can see all the different stalls, and it makes you think ‘right, I’ll go over and look at that next!’ And I love the little booths.”

So far, so good. But there is a rub. It is a couple of days before the Easter Bank Holiday when we visit, and the city centre is bustling. The market, however, is oddly quiet – especially the southern end, near where the food court will be.

The weather is partly to blame, says Steve. And it will be better when the food area is completed – as it should be for this weekend – and all the stalls are in use.

But he’s a businessman and he needs the footfall. “It is the Easter holidays, schools are out, there should be families about. But they aren’t finding their way into the market. Where are they?”

It is good that the market looks better, Steve says. “But to be honest we’re not really bothered about the aesthetics. It is about the footfall. This is my livelihood, and it’s a numbers game.”

He would like to see much better signposting all around the city centre, and even at Park & Ride sites, to direct visitors here. There’s no point spending all that money on the market, and then not shouting about it, he says.

Abbey Khotia, of Abbey’s Fashions, agrees that so far the footfall just hasn’t been there. He’s been a stallholder since 1971, and there is no doubt that the market definitely looks better now, he says. “But since we have come back, trade has been poor,” he says.

 

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Stallholder Abbey Khotia, who says: “I would think 75 per cent of people we dealt with in Parliament Street said they didn’t normally come to the market, and were just passing through”

Ideally, he would have liked to stay in Parliament Street, where business boomed because of the passing trade. “I would think 75 per cent of people we dealt with there said they didn’t normally come to the market, and were just passing through.”

That is a huge footfall that has been lost since they returned to the space behind Marks & Spencer.

The weather over hasn’t helped, Abbey admits. And neither has the fact that some stalls are still empty – or that at the time The Press visited work was still going on at the south end of the market to prepare the food outlets and seating areas.

“We’re hoping that once the empty stalls are in use, and the seating areas are open, people will come back.”

Gordon David, of Gordon and Jane’s fruit and veg stall, agrees with Steve Franks that better signposting would help.

He, too, likes the look of the new market.

“The stalls are all right. Everything seems all right.” Even some of the teething problems – such as drains that didn’t work properly – are being tackled, he says. “What we need now is the public to support us by coming back here to do their shopping. But we do need more advertising and signs to divert people here.”

 

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Stall holder Gordon David

Despite these reservations, there is an air of cautious optimism among stallholders.

James Boulby has been working on the family Clox of Harrogate watch and battery stall at the market for 17 years. The business has now moved to one of the new kiosks at the market’s southern end.

Many of the regular customers have yet to find where they are, he admits. But he’s confident that once they do, business will pick up again.

He likes the new look and is upbeat about the future. “The market is a lot brighter – and they’ve done a fantastic job with the kiosks,” he says. “Once the food stalls get going there will be a fantastic atmosphere.”

Other stallholders, when pressed, admit they, too, hope business will soon pick up.

Business will probably never get back to what it was like in Parliament Street last summer, says Gordon David. But the new-look market is brighter and cleaner – and if the public support it, business should least get back to what it was before the closure and temporary removal.

So he’s optimistic? “I think so.”

Fingers crossed for a bumper Bank Holiday weekend.

 

• The new-look Shambles Market has 86 stalls and seven new kiosks. Steve Shooter, the market’s interim manager, said the occupancy rate of the stalls was up to 90 per cent during the week, with the market always busier at weekends, especially on a Saturday.

All seven kiosks – including those serving food – are expected to be open this weekend.