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Actress Tracy to stand in by-election? p5
Friday August 26, 2016
12 MONTHS
No. 752
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MARKET MISERY?
The best in Britain in 2007, the one-time jewel in Dewsbury’s crown now features rows and rows of empty stalls... and the latest Press survey shows almost 30 per cent of town centre shops are vacant By Danny Lockwood PROPERTY occupancy levels in Dewsbury town centre have levelled out since the last Press survey 18 months ago, with problem hotspots remaining unaddressed – but it is the town’s landmark market that appears to be in major decline. Daisy Hill, once a des-res retail jewel of the town – but which Kirklees controversially declared was “outside” the town centre, has become virtually a property wasteland. While some shops have been converted to flats, there are only eight businesses – and 18 empty shop fronts. Of a total of 271 town centre properties counted (282 last year), 83 (89 last year) were vacant or closed for
Still popular... Asian fashion and jewellery retailing is strong, left, but many properties, like this one, right, in Northgate, are derelict business – almost exactly 30 per cent. The market, meanwhile, is in steep decline only nine years after it was named the country’s Market of the Year. Tour operators famously ran bus trips from across the north of England but most of those have dried up as both the market and the town suffer from a poor image problem. One trader said he had two women from Nottingham in his shop who said they were “disgust-
ed” at the state of the town and wondered why on earth it had been chosen for an excursion. In the recent past, stalls were at a premium, with traders queueing from early morning trying to get one on the popular Wednesday and Saturday markets. But entire rows of stalls on the open market now stand empty, with others only appearing used because of stallholders spreading their wares onto neighbouring stands. If not counting as rented stalls, that would distort our tally of 20
stalls on the top outdoor market standing empty, plus entire rows on the bottom outdoor area, and nine empty units in the main covered market area. The permanent butcher’s shops at the Machell’s Mill end of the market have all now closed and of the seven units in what was the popular fish stall area, only three were trading last Wednesday. We surveyed the rest of the town from South Street (by the bus station), to Crackenedge Lane (to its junction with Battye Street). Lower
Bond Street was included to its junction with Union Street, which still has several retail/service businesses on it. Longcauseway, the precinct, Westgate, Northgate, adjacent streets and Empire House were all included. Kirklees is currently using a centrally funded £3.7m Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative to improve buildings in the “conservation area” centred on Northgate, with the first improvements due to
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