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ONE PAPER ... ALL THE NEWS from Dewsbury, Batley, Ossett, Mirfield, Liversedge, Birstall, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton & Spen Valley
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Friday February 15, 2019
No. 881
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DO SOMETHING! Traders urge Council: ‘Rescue our market before it’s too late’ “HELP us now before it’s too late” – that’s the message to council officials from traders at Dewsbury Market, who fear it won’t be long before the historic site is all but deserted by shoppers and stallholders. Jayne Senior, who has run market stall Senior’s for 12 years, says Kirklees Council isn’t doing enough to help revive what was once was a thriving and prosperous site. Dewsbury was voted the best open market in the UK in 2007 and was a well-known destination for coach parties – but high rents and low trade have led to a ‘gradual decline’, according to Jayne. She said: “We do not want to put the market down whatsoever. We’re trying to run a business, we want to encourage people to come. But with the state that it’s in at the moment with Kirklees, they’re just not bothered. “When there are so many empty stalls, people come and look round and wander off because they think there’s nothing here any more. “These stalls two years ago looked exactly the same, there’s no change, there have been no new stalls, Kirklees don’t advertise for people to come in and take one on.” For one unit and two stalls in the market, Jayne’s rent is around £500 a
DWINDLING? Empty stalls at Dewsbury Market month – which she says “is a lot of money for two-and-a-half days’ trade”. The market itself is only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, then for half a day on Fridays. But traders don’t want to be forced out. When asked what Kirklees officials can do to help, Jayne said: “Help us reduce rents, that would be a big help because trade is awful at the minute. “There is a regeneration project in process, but how long is that going to take? They’ve been talking about this
Worried traders...from left, Jayne Senior, Angela Walker and Georgina Tillotson for how many years? They never actually do anything. “It’s alright talking ‘we’re going to this, we’re going to do that’ but they’re going to have to actually do something while the market is still here, otherwise there won’t be anybody left.” Kirklees appointed independent consultants in 2017 to help revamp the market but traders say nothing
has been put into action. Georgina Tillotson, who used to work at the market’s Mrs Bouquet’s Florists with her mum Angela Walker, said around one trader every six weeks is leaving – either through retirement, with nobody wanting to take over, or because they can’t afford to keep going. Angela said: “I’ve had to reduce my girls’ wages already. I’ve come to
quite a bad point at the moment where I have to decide the next stage.” Georgina, who now runs a shop in Batley, added: “Kirklees need to look at it and think realistically, ‘these people could be in a shop and could be paying less, so we could help them out and pay less to warrant them to
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