Around £2m could be invested in Wrexham town centre markets to revive fortunes

APPROXIMATELY £2m could be invested into two historic town centre markets in a bid to revive their fortunes.
Dwindling visitor numbers and a high number of vacant stalls have been highlighted as issues at both the Butcher’s Market and General Market in Wrexham.
A taskforce was set up by Wrexham Council in 2018 to look at how the 19th century buildings could be improved.
The group has now published its findings which outline plans to change the layout of both grade II listed indoor markets.
The Butcher’s Market has been identified as the main priority for spending with proposals to create a pop-up food shop at the High Street entrance to showcase local produce.
Upgraded signs, stall fronts and access points are also on the cards after a survey suggested the need for a greater variety of goods to be made available.
In a report, Cllr Paul Roberts, chair of the town centre markets task and finish
group, said: “The importance of retaining the markets due to their architectural and historic relevance is acknowledged, but they are in need of significant investment and modernisation.
“There is the potential to secure in the region of £2m, from a range of Welsh Government, National Lottery Heritage and Council funding for the markets.
“The group involving market traders considered the three appraisal reports from three student placements from Glyndŵr University.
“A public survey was also undertaken to seek the views of people who live, visit or work in Wrexham and the market traders on how they would like to see the town centre markets developed.
“(The) highest number of comments were about having more variety and better quality of stalls, including a food offer.
“The responses to the consultation informed the following proposed vision for the regeneration of the markets to act as a catalyst to the development of a ‘market quarter’ in the Henblas Street area.”
The report shows the Butcher’s Market currently has a vacancy rate of around 50 per cent.
Cllr Roberts said there was a lack of consistency in the opening times of the stalls and claimed there was a reluctance among traders to take advantage of the town’s night time economy.
It was also felt that the layout of the markets needed to be more open to increase footfall.
While stallholders have welcomed some elements of the plans, concerns have also been raised about the potential impact on their income while work is carried out.
It follows criticism of how the £4.5m revamp of the former People’s Market was carried out before it was reopened as Tŷ Pawb.
A representative from the General Market said: “It’s essential to the businesses in the General Market that they continue to trade while work is being done on the building wherever possible and where not.
“We saw with Tŷ Pawb that traders were not always told the full truth about the plans, which was for the greater good of the project.
“This proved not to be in the best interest of many of the traders and many suffered more hardship than they should have.
“The very livelihood of each market trader relies on us responding to this and making the right changes.”
The plans will be discussed by members of the local authority’s employment, business and investment scrutiny committee on Wednesday .
The proposed investment will then require the backing of the council’s ruling executive board.
If approved, it’s anticipated work could start on the Butcher’s Market next year.

By Liam Randall – Local Democracy Reporter