Market forces that bring change to a city landmark

WITH its flamboyant gothic turrets and intricate stonework, Kirkgate Market is one of the most impressive buildings in Leeds.

When it first opened back in 1904, there was a grand ceremony to mark the occasion. A procession of more than 30 coaches carried civic dignitaries to the iron gate at its entrance. After walking around the stalls they were whisked away for a grand banquet at the city’s art gallery.

In its heyday people would come from far and wide to shop but despite its continued popularity the cost of maintaining the market is growing and today a number of its stalls stand empty.

The future of the market and how it should be managed has come under the spotlight in recent months, and tomorrow a Leeds Council executive board meeting will discuss a strategy report outlining the various options before making a decision in the autumn. The report recommends looking at moving ownership of the market away from the council to an arm’s-length company.

However, local campaigners fear the council wants to turn it into what they call a “foodie destination for the wealthy”. Instead, they want the council to produce a strategy that includes all the existing traders and looks at ways of renovating the building.

Megan Waugh, from Friends of Leeds Kirkgate Market, says councillors should be looking at the best ways to support the market, its 2,000 traders and the hundreds of thousands of people from all over Leeds who rely on it. “Instead we’re looking at the blueprint of a few senior council officers who feel that Kirkgate Market and its shoppers are spoiling their idea of Leeds as a high-end shopping destination.”

Council chiefs say initial estimates suggest it would cost about £1.8m to repair and refurbish the market, but campaigners says this could and should come out of the council’s coffers.

Sara Gonzalez, also of Friends of Leeds Kirkgate Market, fears the market’s unique appeal could soon be lost. “We are concerned that if these proposals get the green light we will end up with a completely different market with different traders who pay higher rents and this will displace traders and in effect displace customers,” she says.

“The market should be for everyone that’s what makes it special, it’s an amazing public space in the city centre where you find people of all cultures and we feel this really should be protected.”

Kirkgate certainly has some excellent stalls, as well as a superb fish market that has everything from fresh Whitby cod and mackerel, to razor clams and giant prawns. But the council denies it is shirking its responsibility.

“Our aim is to make Kirkgate the best market in the country and make it a place that people want to go to and traders want to trade out of,” says Coun Richard Lewis, executive board member with responsibility for development.

To do that, he says, the market has to change. “If we don’t do something it will have further decline and no future.”

He says the council has invested a lot of money in the market over the years but believes in order to allow it to flourish in the future it is better being managed by an arm’s-length company, rather than the council.

“This would allow it to be run on commercial lines with a clear strategy rather being vulnerable to the pressures of being a department within a city council.”

Coun Lewis rejects the accusation they are trying to “yuppify” the market. “That is absolute nonsense. But the market has changed, those people who used to shop there go to one of the big supermarkets and to say we have to preserve a golden era that’s gone would be disastrous.”

What about claims that rent prices are extortionate? “We had an independent review carried out a couple of months ago which said we should put some rents up, which we didn’t, and that the others were about right.”

However, he admits that not every stall in the market may be there in the future.

“A lot of people make good money out of the market and others clearly haven’t. But the answer is not to cut rents, that doesn’t solve the problem,” he says. “In the last couple of years we’ve seen some of the biggest names on the high street disappear and that’s the nature of the retail business, it changes.”

Even so, he’s optimistic about the market’s future. “With work starting on Eastgate development and John Lewis coming next door there is a huge opportunity for the market to be part of a larger retail offer for the city and, at the same time, preserve its special nature.”

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