Plans to demolish Eccles market have been labelled “horrific” by devastated stallholders.
Salford City Council announced last week that Eccles market, shopping centre and car park will be demolished in three phases by March 2024.
Eccles market is home to many small businesses and is the heart of the small, tight-knit community.
Despite some reassurances from Salford council, furious market workers on site say they have received little official communication about whether a new market will be developed and are upset that their livelihoods are now up in the air.
Wendy Griffiths, runner of Pat’s Haberdashery wool stall, is just one business owner who has no idea what the future holds.
She said: “Its horrific, it’s ridiculous. It will be a mass destruction for the community. Since the 1920’s Eccles has been known as the market town, how can they take away the market?
“Eccles market trading has fed and clothed my brother and I since we were born, we are now 58 years old and it still does. My mum passed away in lockdown, I gave my job up to come here and honour her business that she ran for 66 years and Salford council think they can walk in and snatch the rug from underneath us and finish us.”
Janet Newton, owner of Kiss N Make Up, a cosmetics stall, confirmed that the shops outside of the market were informed of the demolition two weeks before the traders were told and she spoke of the pain she felt at losing her pitch.
She said: “I’m devastated, it’s my livelihood, we’ve had no feedback or contact and just been dumped on. It will kill me, that’s 12 of us that have no job, no incomes, I could be homeless as I rent my house, and this pays for that.
“We get customers that have been coming to the café for 20 years, they’re devastated and concerned about what’s happening to us. Eccles is a tight knit community, and the market is the heart of this.”
It is not just stallholders who have been left furious by the development.
Steven and Joan, regular customers at the market said: “It’s wrong, if they are going to close it they need to make room somewhere else for it. They’re ripping the place to pieces and they’ll probably just replace it with high rise flats and rubbish like that.”
There is an ongoing petition to try and halt the demolition of the market, that can be found here Petition · Halt the Demolition of Our Beloved Eccles Indoor Market · Change.org
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