Flavour of the exotic East may enliven city

A scene in Casablanca shows Humphrey Bogart meeting Ingrid Bergman in a Moroccan souk. While the former lovers engage in an awkward conversation, a persistent seller tries to tempt Bergman with a bargain.

Although research suggests that some souks, the Arabic name for markets, are starting to lose their popularity in some countries due to the rapid growth in modern retail channels, a development agency in Bradford wants to import the retail concept and offer small independent businesses the chance to sell high-quality niche products under one roof.

QED-UK is bidding for £15m of Government funding through the Regional Growth Fund to kick-start the project, which it says would open in 2013/14, creating 500 jobs over a three-year period.

The indoor souk, which it proposes in the south or south-east of the city, would be divided into different quarters around the themes of gold, bridal and evening wear, health and beauty, international foods, spices, business services, technology, gifts, arts and crafts and music.

Adeeba Malik, deputy chief executive of QED, said: “The vision is to sell high-end high-quality products that would be appealing to all sections of the community.

“We would have to do a lot of work to make sure the kind of retailers that would be there selling the products are high quality. If you go to a souk abroad you would see beautiful rugs and carpets so we’d like to see that kind of thing here in Bradford.”

Mrs Malik added: “We have been looking around at sites and have found two or three places that look interesting.

“We have chosen the outskirts of the city to allow people from outside Bradford to travel in and be able to park.”

The proposed location has been criticised by Bradford Council as the city centre is the council’s regeneration priority.

But Mrs Malik said that although it preferred an out-of-town location, if the company were successful it would look at all the options, including city centre.

It plans to acquire and refurbish a suitable large building of around 60,000 sq ft, rather than build a new one.

She added: “There are a number of bids from the Bradford area and, even if we aren’t successful in our bid, we would still want to work with another organisation in the city to make their project a success.”

QED is competing with 127 other bids in Yorkshire for the second round of the Regional Growth Fund. Yorkshire and the Humber accounted for the third-highest number of bids, behind only the North West and the North East.

Bids totalling £3.3bn have been submitted from across the UK although only £950m of cash is available.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills said it had received more than 490 bids from across England for a slice of the funding.

An independent advisory board, chaired by Lord Heseltine, is now assessing the merits of each.

In the first round of the fund, Yorkshire and the Humber was successful with seven bids for cash with backed projects including the planned expansion of the Haribo factory near Wakefield and the Gateway to the Sheffield City Region project.

Almost 50 bids from Yorkshire were unsuccessful.

Mrs Malik said the reality of the souk depended on the success of QED’s funding bid. “If we weren’t successful, we wouldn’t be able to make this project a reality unless we found another source of funding,” she said.

The souk would be aimed at start-up and small businesses, which would rent about 400 sq ft of retail space each.

It would be open for around 60 hours per week and would target tourists with not only retail but entertainment and themed displays relating to major calendar events including Christmas, Eid and Diwali.

Mrs Malik said: “People like the idea of buying new products and things that have an Eastern effect – foods, spices, rugs and carpets and homeware.

“Bazaars and souks are often set up with small stall holders but we are saying we would like proper shops rather than stalls.”

The design of the building has not been finalised. Mrs Malik said: “We want to make it look interesting. If the bid is successful we will look at the architecture, how the units would look, and on site parking to make it as attractive as possible for visitors.”

Although Mrs Malik said the rents would be at “market rates”, she added that the tenant businesses would benefit from expected high footfall driven by a regional marketing campaign, free business support and training from QED, easy in, easy out terms, opportunities for the smallest businesses to share units, flexible accommodation for businesses that both make and sell their products, and a tenants association supported by QED.

MARKETS ON CITY FRINGES

A SOUK is the Arabic name for a market. The term is often used to describe the market in an Arab or Muslim city, but it is creeping into Western cities too.

Historically, souks were held outside of cities in the location where a caravan loaded with goods would stop and merchants would display their goods for sale.

Souks were also major festivals and many cultural and social activities took place in them. Later, due to the importance of the marketplace and the growth of cities, the locations of souks shifted to urban centres. But recent figures by independent research provider Thomas White suggest that the Moroccan souk is losing currency these days because of a supermarket boom.