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Published on: 25/08/2020 09:58 AMReported by: roving-eye
Exciting plans to transform Southport Market into a unique food and drink offer are set to be presented to Sefton Council's formal Cabinet next week (Thursday, September 3).
The report will recommend the incredible £1.4 million redesign and refurbishment of the town centre market site, creating a modern food and drinks space, along with a flexible events and market area.
The new look market will be an all year round attraction with space for up to eight delicious food and drinks units, providing a vital boost to the local economy and continued regeneration of Southport's market quarter and King Street.
Units will also be available for fresh produce stalls, including the popular Blackhurst Butchers, with all traders being offered turnover rental agreements to ensure low risk to their business.
Funding for the project has already been successfully secured from both the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the Southport Town Deal acceleration fund.
If the plans are approved by Cabinet, it is hoped work will begin on the exciting project in late 2020.
Cllr Marion Atkinson, Sefton Council's Labour Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Skills, welcomed the latest stage of the project, saying: "We know just how much of an important asset Southport Market is to the town.
"This ambitious and exciting project is a cornerstone of what the Southport Town Deal is all about and securing additional external funding to completely transform the building shows real commitment from Sefton Council.
"We fully understand the impact consumer habits and demand has on historical indoor markets and there is a clear need to ensure this impressive venue evolves into a modern and stunning food and drinks space.
"This project will create fantastic opportunities for new business start ups and job creation, and we have shown our full commitment to helping these businesses to grow by implementing a turnover rental model.
"We are extremely excited to see the project progress even further and we have been delighted at the wealth of positive feedback and support we have received from residents and businesses so far for this transformation."
Due to an already high demand from prospective new food operators and fresh produce businesses, all potential traders should contact tourism@sefton.gov.uk to find out more information.
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At least it will give the ineffective Lib Dem’s to moan about/call for....
I guess the council can’t really win, they spend money and the libs complain that they weren’t consulted (although they never seem to be able to string together any ideals) or if they don’t spend money then it’s all about the Bootle overlords spending our parking revenue elsewhere.
Hopefully changes can be made in next election to try to move away from such a dysfunctional relationship as if haven’t asked yourself already, what exactly have the Lib Dem’s done for Southport other than moan, I can’t think of anything they’ve done over the years. Even during the coalition when John Pugh backed many Southport unfriendly policies he has the cheek to come back and moan about some broken paving stones that has taken him years to notice as he knows the libs can’t be held to any account as they have absolutely no influence.
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Originally Posted by Username2016
At least it will give the ineffective Lib Dem’s to moan about/call for....
I guess the council can’t really win, they spend money and the libs complain that they weren’t consulted (although they never seem to be able to string together any ideals) or if they don’t spend money then it’s all about the Bootle overlords spending our parking revenue elsewhere.
Hopefully changes can be made in next election to try to move away from such a dysfunctional relationship as if haven’t asked yourself already, what exactly have the Lib Dem’s done for Southport other than moan, I can’t think of anything they’ve done over the years. Even during the coalition when John Pugh backed many Southport unfriendly policies he has the cheek to come back and moan about some broken paving stones that has taken him years to notice as he knows the libs can’t be held to any account as they have absolutely no influence.
Apart from the politics what do you think of the scheme ?
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The only people who will make money are the builders architects etc, its had 3 million spent on it
Southports Victorian market hall is set to re-open this month after a 3million facelift. The revamp has transformed the market hall into a light and airy space which will be home to 48 traders, some new, some old and six who stayed throughout the redevelopment work.
The refurbished market will also have a cookery demonstration area and a caf with folding glass doors opening onto the newly widened King Street pavement.
The market hall will become the new home of the monthly farmers markets and will also give a boost to people looking to launch new businesses. A number of units in the revamped market hall have been set aside for start-up firms to give them a shop front, with a short term lease.
Andy Morris, the operational director for market redevelopment company Quarterbridge who are overseeing the work, said: It can be difficult for
traders or retailers or hobbyists who have an idea and want to go on their own on the high street. But here you have a short term lease of six months, so you can try your product or try your service and see how it goes. We want people with new ideas who dont want to let a high street unit for four or five years with massive overheads.
They will be under the same roof as established businesses, including Gracinda Churchhouse who has kept her stall open while the works have gone on around her.
She said: Ive been looking forward to the work being finished for some time now. We noticed about three years ago that the numbers of people coming to the market were dropping but even while the work was being finished we noticed a real difference.
More people have been walking in and I think it will be great once we have had the grand opening and its all up and running.
And Andy Morris, who has previously worked on the redevelopment of markets in Accrington, Bury, Bolton and Blackburn, added: The work has been designed to highlight that this is the market quarter of Southport and we can see already that the area is starting to pick up.
We have been working on this for 18 months and the plan is that people feel they are entering a different part of town. New shops have opened and we are seeing more people passing by.
There has been a renaissance in food in recent years and for any market to be successful it is vital they get the food offer right. Were convinced we have got that right, with great traders, the demonstration kitchen and Divine, the caf over the road, opening in here as well.
Steve Irwin from Sefton Council, who own the market, said: We are delighted with how the market looks now. Its even better than I expected.
It has not simply been a matter of working on the market hall, but on widening the pavements and re-surfacing the road as well, weve looked at the area as a whole. In the market itself we wanted to look at the retail offer and to bring other people in to the market hall to see the events we are now able to put on, whether thats the chefs demonstrations, or brass bands, or carol concerts at Christmas.
FLOP// give it to One Vision Housing
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Originally Posted by local
Apart from the politics what do you think of the scheme ?
I think something needs to be done, we can’t just let another part of the town rot if there’s a chance of improvement. Meols cop has already declined due to the pushback by the Lib Dem’s as they thought Sainsbury’s Lord Street was at threat....we now have a further declined Meols cop and the same decline for Southport Lord Street.
therefore in lieu of any better ideas and it’s not being put forward as if we have this then we can’t have something else that some improvement is better than no improvement and maybe the turnover based rent is a positive change?
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I think it's too much of a risk to take a punt on a food and drink venue in a town that already has a large number of them, some of which fail.
If they get it right and it takes off it could be a huge success, but get it wrong and it could flop. Only time with tell but it's a gamble particularly with covid19 still around.
Should have made it an indoor skatepark.
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Member Post Likes / Dislikes - 2 Likes, 0 Dislikes
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The rents appear to be linked to the business' turn over. Which is a very good idea and should mean the traders are not priced out of staying like they currently are.
Great news.
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Originally Posted by Normal
The rents appear to be linked to the business' turn over. Which is a very good idea and should mean the traders are not priced out of staying like they currently are.
Great news.
I agree and if people use and support it I think it will do well. People want different food now not just the usual menu everyone uses. Also the food hall will promote the other traders and encourage people to buy. The rent linked to turnover I think should be applied to all rented retail to give new business a chance. The new Market venue needs to appeal to a wide age range as I feel too much is aimed at older people (like me) together with families and not much for younger people. I think customer service will also be important and knowing your customers' which seems to be lacking and why many fail.
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Linking the rent to turnover brings a few issues as turnover does not always feed onto the bottom line.
The model would appeal to just what we don't want low turnover high margin operators hoping for mug punters whilst the place declines.
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Member Post Likes / Dislikes - 1 Likes, 1 Dislikes
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Originally Posted by salus.populi
I think it's too much of a risk to take a punt on a food and drink venue in a town that already has a large number of them, some of which fail.
If they get it right and it takes off it could be a huge success, but get it wrong and it could flop. Only time with tell but it's a gamble particularly with covid19 still around.
Should have made it an indoor skatepark.
indoor skatepark now that is a good one give the kids something to do
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Surprised that donkey22 or the PNP don't want the indoor market turned into a veladrome instead................I await their responses.
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Originally Posted by salus.populi
I think it's too much of a risk to take a punt on a food and drink venue in a town that already has a large number of them, some of which fail.
If they get it right and it takes off it could be a huge success, but get it wrong and it could flop. Only time with tell but it's a gamble particularly with covid19 still around.
Should have made it an indoor skatepark.
Or Ice skating, but I guess parking could be an issue?
Hope it goes well, but there is only so much food and drink one town can consume. Could have a knock on effect to other small businesses. Would have like to have seen something a little more original to pull punters in.
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Originally Posted by SteveandLois
Surprised that donkey22 or the PNP don't want the indoor market turned into a veladrome instead................I await their responses.
It’s obviously far too small to be a velodrome. Would make a great skatepark though as mentioned by a previous poster.
On a side note, maybe you should get out more often/get a life. Troll.
Last edited by donkey22; 27/08/2020 at 12:30 PM.
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Originally Posted by Ceam
Hope it goes well, but there is only so much food and drink one town can consume. Could have a knock on effect to other small businesses. Would have like to have seen something a little more original to pull punters in.
The Baltic Market in Liverpool caused concerns when it started up. Fortunately, it's gone the other way and has helped small local businesses with the increased footfall.
I hope that this works the same way!
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