Leeds Kirkgate Market

[Leeds No.1]

Yeah I know, I'm saying conditionally.

I support running it at an arms-length also.

[STOPGO]

Interesting article about the markets future in Saturdays YEP.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.u...oost_1_3829929

[Shiny_Dave]

There were incredible scenes down at the Market on Friday (September 30) as traders staged a spontaneous protest after being shut out of a Council press briefing to discuss the future of the market.

Late on Thursday afternoon traders discovered that a press briefing was being held in the market the following day. The meeting, called by the Council’s ‘Markets Champion’ Councillor Harper (pictured left) was to discuss details of “…how the proposals for the future of the market are taking shape.”

This bizarre move to bypass traders and provide information first to the media, came...

FOLKM home page for more

[Val Verde]

Oh dear. Certainly isn't good news to see the Council snub the market traders id have thought considering the traders must surely and obviously play a strong role in the day to day operations of the market.

[LS19]

I wonder if they will try and encourage some stall holders in the 'new' market to relocate into the main market hall. This would then fill the main market hall making for a better shopping experience and atmosphere. They could then reduce the size of the new hall and extend the open market further up.

[Shiny_Dave]

I don't particularly agree with their divisive and negative approach at times but FOLKM have some tenacity:

‘Independent Consultants’ Conflict of Interest
November 6, 2011
by kirkgatemarket

The council’s plan to shrink and privatise Leeds Kirkgate Market has taken another twist after it was revealed that the ‘independent consultant’ hired to advise on the Market’s future is actually a business specialising in turning traditional local authority markets into high-end food halls.

Last month, Leeds City Council announced it was seeking to hire specialist consultants to look into the ‘optimum size’ of the Market as well as explore options for private sector involvement in its management and ownership.

Friends of Leeds Kirkgate Market has now discovered that the contract has been awarded to Quarterbridge Project Management Ltd, a company whose previous clients include Eastgate developer Hammerson, and the Dutch developer, MAB, whose controversial plans move Kirkgate Market into underground hall were fought off by mass public opposition in the 1980s.

A spokesperson for Friends of Leeds Kirkgate Market said: “Bringing in outside expertise to help make decisions is one thing, but awarding the contract to a private company which specialises in running markets is clearly a conflict of interest at the very least. How can we trust that Quarterbridge will be ‘independent’ when they could be writing themselves a profitable role in the future of our market?”

We are calling on Leeds City Council and the directors of Quarterbridge to provide assurances, in writing, that neither Quarterbridge nor any of its subsidiary companies, have any interest, beyond their current role as consultants, in any aspect of the future redevelopment and management of Kirkgate Market. If they are not prepared or able to provide such reassurances then serious questions should be asked about how and why the decision to appoint Quarterbridge was made.

The brief that Quarterbridge Ltd will be working to does not require them to undertake any form of consultation with either traders or market shoppers.

The council are expecting final reports and recommendations for the future of the market to be delivered by the end of January 2012.

Despite the fact that the brief calls for detailed financial work and substantial soft market testing, the fee for three months work is just £12,400. This is an incredibly low figure for private consultants and raises more questions than it answers about why this company has accepted this particular piece of work.

[Shiny_Dave]

Kirkgate Market

Riordan said that Kirkgate Market was a jewel that had suffered from underinvestment from successive council administrations of different political persuasions for years, but there was now a cross-party view that more needed to be done to restore it to its former glory. He said:

“It’s clear that it cannot stay as it is, we have to change it and we need to tackle the issues it faces head on. We need to make it a market that people from across Europe will want to come to. We have a fantastic building there.

“We have to ask how can we make it a bigger draw and making it a place where lots of different things are happening - that doesn’t mean gentrifying it, but we do need to change it.”

Riordan said he would ‘love’ Kirkgate Market to be a tourist attraction ‘and we are in discussions about that’ and be ‘a place people want to come to again and do a range of things’.

Reported by South Leeds Life

[Shiny_Dave]

Taken from the report to Scrutiny Board (Regeneration):

Voids are measured, as is common practice throughout the markets industry, in Stall Days Lost (SDL). In summary, voids have risen overall from 16.86 % last reported, to 17.52% to October 09 2011. Figures have been steadily increasing since first
reported to Scrutiny when they were just over 14%. This is to be expected due to
recessionary factors and it should be noted that the Market is still on a par with the
city centre which when last reported (Nov 2010) was 16.8%.

So the market voids are par for the course with general retail in the city.

Here for the full agenda of the next meeting of the Regeneration Scrutiny Board

[Aaronj09]

Has anyone else noticed how awful the Market car park is? I was just stuck in there, trying to get out, for about 3 hours.

[lazygamer]

Originally Posted by Aaronj09

Has anyone else noticed how awful the Market car park is? I was just stuck in there, trying to get out, for about 3 hours.

That's one of the festive promotions, Treacle Tyre Tuesdays.

[El Cid]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

COUNCIL'S MARKET DEAL HOPES

If backing is given public talks can then begin and efforts can be made to see if developers are interested in partnering Leeds City Council to generate an estimated £20m needed to carry out improvements to Kirkgate Market and secure its future.
2005

In the long term, does the market make a profit of loss for Leeds City Council?

Apart from it being a really old building, there is no reason for it being loss making. The market in the piece Hall in Halifax closed was down, what other towns in the area have council owned markets?

[MattN]

They may have shut Piece Hall Market, haven't heard about it, but did they shut the Halifax Borough Market Hall? No.

Pretty much every other town round here has council owned markets, but most of the old market halls haven't survived.

[aviator]

The YEP has a report on the findings of a study commissioned by the city council on developing a sustainable future for the market. The study envisages a 25% reduction in the size of the market which would result a some of the land currently occupied by the open-air market being sold for redevelopment.

The full text of the study can be found on the market's website.

[Val Verde]

Originally Posted by aviator

The YEP has a report on the findings of a study commissioned by the city council on developing a sustainable future for the market. The study envisages a 25% reduction in the size of the market which would result a some of the land currently occupied by the open-air market being sold for redevelopment.

The full text of the study can be found on the market's website.

Would certainly be a shame to see a reduction in the size of the Leeds market although surely something major would need to be done to return it to it's past glory. Surely the main thing would be to aim the market at a much broader range of the Leeds population and visitors to Leeds in particular high earners perhaps by having things such as more farmers markets, antique markets, and more trendy stalls and the like.

[El Cid]

Originally Posted by Val Verde

Would certainly be a shame to see a reduction in the size of the Leeds market although surely something major would need to be done to return it to it's past glory.

I had a look around the market in Otley last week, it looked very popular and selling a wide range of goods. I would think that roadside stall, like the ones in Otley, would be very cheap to rent. I was almost supprised that health n safety hadnt closed it down already.

[Shiny_Dave]

Published on Wednesday 18 January 2012 06:45

A consultant’s report drawn up to help shape the future of Leeds’s historic Kirkgate Market has come under fire just days after its publication.

Traders and councillors have raised a string of concerns over the report whose key recommendations include reducing the size of the market, handing control to a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) – effectively a limited company – and granting the LLP a 99-year lease.

It puts forward two possible redevelopment options. Under the preferred one, the 1976 building would be demolished and replaced with a new market hall and service basement.

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The 1981 building would then be knocked down and the outdoor market relocated onto the site.

The current outdoor market site would then be available for redevelopment.

The report says the plans put forward allow for a “tenant reselection process” and tenants reselected may be relocated to a different part of the market.

It has been suggested investment in the market of about £30m would be needed, with private sector partners providing £20m and the council £10m.

Liz Laughton, a market trader, told the council’s Regeneration Scrutiny Board: “The report shows no understanding of what a market is. Its sole interest is in raising the maximum return for the partners.”

She warned that traders could face a massive increase in overheads making it difficult for them to provide competitively priced goods.

Board members agreed to forward a range of concerns to the council’s Executive Board, which next month will discuss the report produced by Quarterbridge Project Management Ltd.

They include insufficient exploration of other management models, the idea of tenant reselection and the length of the suggested lease, which at 99 years was judged “inappropriate”.

YEP

It may not be what it was. It may not be to everyones tastes. It has room for improvement. It has been neglected from a re-investment perspective. But it stills makes a £2mn annual profit and has a lower vacancy rate than the rest of the city centre.

[mike okane]

Anyone remember the 1986 proposal by dutch developers MAB to build a 'Leeds look' type extension on the tin shed part?, it was refused by the council after Prince Charles had commented that the scheme was 'too big', for little old Leeds.

[Leeds No.1]

Looks like it would have been a good move for the time; although I can see that would be dated now- albeit better than what we have.

[Shiny_Dave]

Leeds City Council is inviting comments on proposals to modernise Kirkgate Market and manage it through a private sector partnership. The proposals are contained in an independent report into the future of the 7-acre city centre site commissioned from market consultants Quarterbridge.

markettradenews

[Val Verde]

Traders react to proposals to revamp the Leeds Kirkgate Market: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-16815330

Can't see what exactly would be wrong with appealing the market to more affulent people (surely it would be great at encouraging custom and ensuring the market has a long term future) provided it doesn't lose it's traditional working class customer base. Certainly something would need doing to make it more of an attraction and destination which would come from offering something for everyone, having rents which are affordable and perhaps building ontop of excess land for things such as offices and apartments.