LEICESTER | Possible market redevelopment | Pro

[Lears City]

MY EMAIL TO THE MAYOR

Dear Mayor

I originally contributed the Leicester Market consultation, but wish to contact you personally.

It is clear that the Indoor Market is well past its sell by date. It is a tragedy that the current building replaced the excellent and commanding "Corridor" building. Yet we are left where we are now.

I think the unavoidable demise of the Indoor Market presents a wonderful opportunity to revamp the area.

Connectivity is the big issue for the Market. The whole Market Square can be avoided by pedestrian routes between all of Leicester's landmarks. It is often avoided by pedestrians, because space is cramped and the whole place is very outdated.

The Highcross is an obvious draw nowadays and unless the Market is seen to be connected to it, there is little hope of drawing retail traffic in.

Also the Market Square is counter to what it always has been throughout history. For many hundreds of years it was primarily an open space and a market only some of the time. The roof does no favours to the Market Square. The permanent stalls are a hinderance out of hours.

The Indoor Market needs to be demolished. So too should the buildings on Horsefair Street between the Alliance and Leicester and Lloyds banks. Also for the wreckers ball should be the dreadful modern buildings between St Martin's Square and Market Place Approach.

The Indoor Market site should form a central arcade and square, with shops each side. These can be more than one storey high and cater for many types of market related produce.

The site between Town Hall Square and the Indoor Market should incorprate the old Fish Market structure to form another arcade linking to the central one. The St Martin's end could have another arcade allowing linkage on toward Highcross.

This would compliment The Lanes area of Leicester and produce a new linkage between the Highcross and Granby Street. The three suggested arcades could easily remove the necessity of having permanent stalls in Market Square, which would create the opportunity to return that location to its natural state as a large open space. This in turn would increas pedestrian throughput in the area.

MAYOR'S RESPONSE

Thank you for your email and your most interesting suggestions. I entirely agree with you about the current indoor market and your observations about the effect of the present roof over the outdoor stalls.

As I’m sure you’ll appreciate, not all of the buildings you refer to are owned by the Council which does limit what we can do, in addition to the extremely challenging current financial and investment climate.

I have copied your email to the Council’s Director of Planning, Transport and Economic Development so that he can take your suggestions into consideration as we move forwards.

Yours sincerely
Peter Soulsby
City Mayor

[Mark76]

Well that's encouraging

[d4mo85]

What? A genuine and decent response?

How can this be?

[Leicity82]

Yeah. Good job Lears.

[moseeds]

Well done lears!

[starkwell]

The scary thing is, is that this goes to show how devoid of ideas they must be if this idea hasn't already come up in their planning....

[jerseyboi]

in Jersey they kept original old market roof parts and rebuilt with new.
Looks old but new! We can show Leicester what a Market is really about...

[candida]

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.u...ail/story.html

A £600,000 piazza which opened a year ago is to be built on as part a proposed £7 million revamp of Leicester Market.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said Market Corner, next to the Corn Exchange building at the market, had "not lived up to expectations" since it was unveiled in May 2011.
​
The paved area, vigorously opposed by traders before it opened, was intended to serve as an open-air food court to entice more traders and shoppers.

Market stalls were removed along with a section of the market roof, but the number of regular traders has been poor.

Sir Peter said it would now become the site of a new building for meat and fish stalls, which will be relocated from the 1970s Market Hall, which is to be flattened and replaced.

He said: "The clearance of the old stalls has been good but it hasn't lived up to expectations.

"It is the obvious place to put the meat and fish traders when the market hall goes."

Sir Peter said it was the decision of his predecessors to create Market Corner but would not say if he thought it was money well spent.

He said: "I think it's another example of where we can do things better within a bigger picture."

Trader Kate Chamberlin, who has a pet stall near Market Corner, said: "We said all along to the council 'don't waste your money on this, wait until the bigger development happens' but they said it was in the budget so they had to press ahead.

"It really hasn't worked. It's good on a Wednesday when there is an antiques market but it isn't popular on Fridays and Saturdays. We like the new proposals."

The £7 million market scheme is part of Sir Peter's £19 million Connecting Leicester vision reported in the Mercury yesterday.

It involves his Jubilee Square project in St Nicholas Place and wider pedestrianisation to try to reconnect Leicester's historic heart around Castle Gardens with the modern shopping areas.

Leicester Civic Society supports the schemes, but traders are opposed to the removal of the car park in St Nicholas Place.

[starkwell]

would be nice if they could relocate the old fish market roof from the other side and fill the sides in with glass....

[philkeavo]

Great news pictures if realised look very impressive!

[QUOTEPlans to demolish Leicester's 1970s indoor market and replace it with a new public square in the city centre have been unveiled.

Under the £7 million scheme, the five-storey hall would make way for a plaza behind the Corn Exchange building in the heart of the market.

​
• • • • •
A new timber and glass pavilion – housing the fish, meat and cheese traders – would be built on the side of the 19th century building, now used as a bar, in the area which was only recently unveiled as the £650,000 Market Corner development by Leicester City Council.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby had originally intended to replace the market hall with a new building on the same site, but said he felt the scheme unveiled yesterday would make the historic Corn Exchange the central focus of the market once again.

The council intends to borrow cash to pay for the redevelopment against the £650,000 annual income the market brings in.

Sir Peter said: "The market has been at the heart of the city for many centuries and it does make us a surplus, so it makes business sense to invest in it.

"To say the current building is looking tired would be about the politest thing you could say about it.

"It was never a brilliant building and while it may have looked good on paper many years ago, it has never really worked.

"It is dark and badly ventilated. It's now time to move on."

The pavilion will take in the nine fresh meat, fish and cheese vendors who currently operate in the market hall, and a new area of lock-up stalls is proposed for the 29 other traders who sell so-called dry-goods – such as haberdashery – in the corner of the market closest to the iron gateway to Gallowtree Gate.

Adrian Pole, who runs Country Fayre, has worked at the indoor market for 30 years and welcomes the scheme.

"The traders work in a building that is almost derelict," said Mr Pole.

"It's awful and we survive only because we have a very loyal customer base.

"Moving to the new building would be a platform to increase trade and I think it could draw visitors back into the area."

Fruit and veg stall holder Paddy Deevey, who is chairman of the Leicester Branch of the National Market Traders Federation, said: "The market has needed this kind of investment for many years.

"It will not only improve things for the traders, though.

"The market has a knack of surviving, but the area around the periphery is in need of brightening up and I think these plans look exciting."

Haberdasher Dave Swingler said: "Something needs doing. As the market hall has degenerated, trade has fallen away but I think this could turn things round."

Sir Peter said he does not plan to raise the rates traders paid when they move into the new hall.

He said: "It would be suicidal for the council to do all this and then put the rents up to a level that makes traders walk away."

The vintage market and bric-a-brac market which is held on Market Corner would move to Cheapside until the new square between the Corn Exchange and Molly O'Grady's pub is completed. Then it may move to that space.

Subject to getting planning permission, the council hopes to complete the new food hall, which has been designed on the line of similar buildings in Barcelona and Madrid, by Christmas next year.

The traders in the existing market hall would then relocate to allow its demolition, costing £1 million, without disrupting their business.

Leicester Civic Society chairman Stuart Bailey said: "It's certainly ambitious. I applaud the idea but I think the design of the new building looks odd.

"It's all curves in a place which has very angular buildings. I also think the new square would be a bit hemmed in by very tall buildings."

Shopper John Barratt, 61, from Aylestone, said: "A public square sandwiched between two pubs sounds like it's asking for trouble.

"It's fine wanting something like Barcelona, but this is Leicester. You can't turn it into something it's not."

However, pet stall holder Kate Chamberlin said: "I think it's great. The fresh food is a great draw for the market, but for years it has been hidden away in a building that is a mess. This will help us all."

Chairman of the Leicester Retail Forum Peter Wilkinson said: "It looks good, but I think the mayor is proposing something very complex, especially at the back of the Corn Exchange."

Traders are now being consulted on the plan with a wider six week public consultation starting on January 11.][/QUOTE]

[philkeavo]

I have commented about John from Aylestone on the Mockery website, his remarks quoted in the paper make me so mad, what an arse

[Leicity82]

Tell me about it. It's some locals that stagnate our city.

Great and finally some exciting news.

[duane]

Looks amazing!! Definately a huge step forward for the City! I wasn't sure of Sir Pete, but he does seem to understand that the City needs to develop!

[philkeavo]

Originally Posted by duane

Looks amazing!! Definately a huge step forward for the City! I wasn't sure of Sir Pete, but he does seem to understand that the City needs to develop!

Duane can you put the other images up too?

I am crap at that bit and I think those who dont have access to a Mockery would welcome viewing them

[WOTZDA POINT]

It seems a significant amount of ordinary Leicester people are HAPPY to exist in a miserable decrepit city !

No improvements or exciting new projects please ! UNBELIEVABLE

Better connections and a revamped market will undoubtedly improve trade

I applaud Sir Peters vision and passion

[Lears City]

Other images...

[d4mo85]

PLEASE LET THIS HAPPEN!!!

EDIT: Lears beat me to it, but they're so nice we'll leave all these images here

[Luis99]

Im from nottingham and went to leicester for a day trip and was kind of surprised with alot of the centre being run down, this redevelopmemt of the market is excellent news and I hope other parts of the city centre are developed too, I think leicester could do much better then what I saw in leicester, I hope the area gets redeveloped and in turn makes east midlands a better place for people to come

[Leicity82]

Originally Posted by Luis99

Im from nottingham and went to leicester for a day trip and was kind of surprised with alot of the centre being run down, this redevelopmemt of the market is excellent news and I hope other parts of the city centre are developed too, I think leicester could do much better then what I saw in leicester, I hope the area gets redeveloped and in turn makes east midlands a better place for people to come

So do we. Thanks for your comments.

Those renders look fantastic and they should become reality!

[starkwell]

so, from the pics i assume they are still bulldozing the indoor market? it's hard to see but does that mean the area will become an open space?