There are moves afoot to change Accrington Market.
The stalls on the Peel street side will go to provide more 'short term' parking.
This will mean that our once thriving outside market will be reduced to about ten stalls(maybe we should call ourselves Rawtenstall too....because that is what the name Rawtenstall means).
The kiosks will go too...so those vendors like the Fish stall( the only one there is)....Gregs cooked meat and bacon stall.....and all the others on that block too, will go.
There are moves to also remove some of what the council calls 'traditional stalls' from the inside market too.(I am not entirely sure what this 'council speak' really means).
The plans to regenerate the Market Hall are to turn it into a social hub(again, this blanket term means not much to me) and a place where there is a variety of food outlets.
Places where you can buy Mexican food, Thai food, indian food any other kind of foreign food.
Councillor Paul Cox says that these plans are not 'set in stone' but gives no real clue about what Plan B is. Or even if there is a plan B.
The Market Hall had a couple of stalls where people could go and eat....there is only one of them left now. Yes, there is a stall that sells ice cream and hot drinks.
A hot chicken stall failed.
The Arndale had a place called Street Eat...that failed.
There are many outlets, outside of the Market Hall that serve food....Church street has a chippy, a shop that sells hot chicken and burgers, pizzas etc.
None of these seem to be doing that well.
On Broadway there is Greggs...selling hot drinks and snack food....further up Broadway there is Costa Coffee and the pound bakery.
In the Arndale there is the Lancashire Cafe.....down Union street there is Subway.
So my question to our council members is....'have you done any consumer research that underpins or supports the plans for the Market Hall.
I would suggest that you have not.
Going to look at Chester and Altrincham Markets does not cut it.
Both of these areas have a vast difference in the make up of the residents and available disposable income...the demographics of our town do not support this kind of venture.
Over the years it has seemed like the council have been keen to kill off the market.
They certainly have shown very little intention in trying to make it a viable/successful proposition.
Moving the bus station was a big nail in the coffin of the Market.
It reduced the footfall drastically overnight.
I am very sorry to say that when the bus station was moved I predicted that this would happen.
It did not take a bear with a big brain to see this coming.
To make Peel street into more 'short term' parking is a huge folly.
Why would anyone want to drive a car to Accrington...there will be nothing....absolutely NOTHING worth coming into town for.
These days if folk want fast food, they get it delivered to their homes....so if folk are not coming into town to shop, they certainly won't come into town to get fast food..No matter what it's ethnicity is.
Markets and shops are what bring folk into town....so fast food outlets are dependent on there being something worth coming into town for.
This venture(and you heard it here first) is doomed to failure.
Now back to a social hub.
Who is a social hub aimed at?
What will it provide?
If it is aimed at the general working population then it needs to be open most of the time....not exactly 24 hrs a day, but from 9am to 10 pm.
Can you see the council doing that?
NO, neither can I.
What social events will it be promoting...because if the inside space is promoted like the huge wilderness of pavement outside the Market Hall, it is going to be a social desert with just an oasis event popping up every blue moon.
If this sounds negative and defeatist. It is not meant to.
I am just being the voice of reason, adding to the councils srew, a pinch of reality.
There appears to be only Marlene Haworth that sees the reality of the situation in the current council.
They say that they want input from the residents, but have any of you out in Accrington been asked what you think of these plans?
No, neither have I.
The stall holders have been left in the dark too.
These are folk whose livelihoods depend on what the council decides and they have not been asked either.
Should this surprise us?
Well, I can only speak for myself here.
It does not surprise me one bit.
If all the councils brains were turned into dynamite, they would not (collectively) have enough to blow the wax from their ears.
(Big sigh).
I hope someone on the council sees this and makes note of my predictions because so far they have been 100% right.(and I am truly sad about that)
The stalls on the Peel street side will go to provide more 'short term' parking.
This will mean that our once thriving outside market will be reduced to about ten stalls(maybe we should call ourselves Rawtenstall too....because that is what the name Rawtenstall means).
The kiosks will go too...so those vendors like the Fish stall( the only one there is)....Gregs cooked meat and bacon stall.....and all the others on that block too, will go.
There are moves to also remove some of what the council calls 'traditional stalls' from the inside market too.(I am not entirely sure what this 'council speak' really means).
The plans to regenerate the Market Hall are to turn it into a social hub(again, this blanket term means not much to me) and a place where there is a variety of food outlets.
Places where you can buy Mexican food, Thai food, indian food any other kind of foreign food.
Councillor Paul Cox says that these plans are not 'set in stone' but gives no real clue about what Plan B is. Or even if there is a plan B.
The Market Hall had a couple of stalls where people could go and eat....there is only one of them left now. Yes, there is a stall that sells ice cream and hot drinks.
A hot chicken stall failed.
The Arndale had a place called Street Eat...that failed.
There are many outlets, outside of the Market Hall that serve food....Church street has a chippy, a shop that sells hot chicken and burgers, pizzas etc.
None of these seem to be doing that well.
On Broadway there is Greggs...selling hot drinks and snack food....further up Broadway there is Costa Coffee and the pound bakery.
In the Arndale there is the Lancashire Cafe.....down Union street there is Subway.
So my question to our council members is....'have you done any consumer research that underpins or supports the plans for the Market Hall.
I would suggest that you have not.
Going to look at Chester and Altrincham Markets does not cut it.
Both of these areas have a vast difference in the make up of the residents and available disposable income...the demographics of our town do not support this kind of venture.
Over the years it has seemed like the council have been keen to kill off the market.
They certainly have shown very little intention in trying to make it a viable/successful proposition.
Moving the bus station was a big nail in the coffin of the Market.
It reduced the footfall drastically overnight.
I am very sorry to say that when the bus station was moved I predicted that this would happen.
It did not take a bear with a big brain to see this coming.
To make Peel street into more 'short term' parking is a huge folly.
Why would anyone want to drive a car to Accrington...there will be nothing....absolutely NOTHING worth coming into town for.
These days if folk want fast food, they get it delivered to their homes....so if folk are not coming into town to shop, they certainly won't come into town to get fast food..No matter what it's ethnicity is.
Markets and shops are what bring folk into town....so fast food outlets are dependent on there being something worth coming into town for.
This venture(and you heard it here first) is doomed to failure.
Now back to a social hub.
Who is a social hub aimed at?
What will it provide?
If it is aimed at the general working population then it needs to be open most of the time....not exactly 24 hrs a day, but from 9am to 10 pm.
Can you see the council doing that?
NO, neither can I.
What social events will it be promoting...because if the inside space is promoted like the huge wilderness of pavement outside the Market Hall, it is going to be a social desert with just an oasis event popping up every blue moon.
If this sounds negative and defeatist. It is not meant to.
I am just being the voice of reason, adding to the councils srew, a pinch of reality.
There appears to be only Marlene Haworth that sees the reality of the situation in the current council.
They say that they want input from the residents, but have any of you out in Accrington been asked what you think of these plans?
No, neither have I.
The stall holders have been left in the dark too.
These are folk whose livelihoods depend on what the council decides and they have not been asked either.
Should this surprise us?
Well, I can only speak for myself here.
It does not surprise me one bit.
If all the councils brains were turned into dynamite, they would not (collectively) have enough to blow the wax from their ears.
(Big sigh).
I hope someone on the council sees this and makes note of my predictions because so far they have been 100% right.(and I am truly sad about that)