Skip to content

In pictures: Town's market returns to historic home

Martin Heath,BBC News, Northamptonshireand
Annabel Amos,BBC News, Northamptonshire
News imageSam Read/BBC Brown and cream market stall with buckets of flowers including red roses on the right. Other stalls are visible in the distance. Shoppers are looking at the produce. The paving shows signs of rain.Sam Read/BBC
News imageSam Read/BBC Brown and cream market stall selling bananas, apples and other fruit. Some shoppers are examining the produce while others are walking past. Further stalls are visible in the distance.Sam Read/BBC
Rain did not stop people checking out the newly refurbished Market Square
The market now includes new fixed stalls brought in from Italy

Northampton's market has reopened in its traditional home after a 19-month refurbishment project.

The market now has custom-built fixed stalls, new paving and lighting, and a water feature.

Traders had to move to a car park on the edge of the town centre while the work was carried out and many said their income had plummeted.

West Northamptonshire Council has thanked them for their patience.

Les Brennan, who now has a permanent stall for his key cutting business, said trading at Commercial Street was "horrible" and his new fixed stall at the Market Square was "lovely - you just twist the key, up goes the canopy and away you go".

News imageTom Toseland/BBC Tom Cliffe with short light-coloured hair wearing glasses and a black fleece, standing outside Cafe Track where flowers and hygiene ratings are visible in small windows.Tom Toseland/BBC
Tom Cliffe at Cafe Track, where many of the workers are autistic, was delighted that building work had stopped

Businesses based in buildings around the edge of the market were also pleased that opening day had arrived.

Tom Cliffe works at Cafe Track, where the staff include adults who are autistic.

He said his team would be delighted building work was stopping: "The fact that the building doesn't shake all day long is going to be absolutely huge for them - we have lost team members who haven't been able to carry on in their position."

News imageTom Toseland/BBC Dan Lister with short dark hair, wearing a blue jacket and purple tie and smiling with the new brown market stalls in the backgroundTom Toseland/BBC
Dan Lister from West Northamptonshire Council said he was grateful to the traders who had "carried on the life of the market"

Dan Lister, from West Northamptonshire Council, said: "It's great that all these traders have come back from Commercial Street, they're back home.

"I'm so grateful to the traders that have carried on the life of the market."

News imageWendy Randall Wendy Randall with medium-length brown hair and glasses, smiling and wearing a yellow wrap-around scarf and cardigan with a fruit market stall in the backgroundWendy Randall
Labour group leader Wendy Randall hopes local people will support the traders

Wendy Randall, the leader of the Labour opposition on the Conservative-run council, had a wander around the new market and said it was "good to see it back where it belongs".

"It’s been an awful 18 months for the traders putting a huge financial strain on them, but hopefully that will change now and people will return to support the traders as well as all the other town traders."

News imageTom Toseland/BBC Morcea Walker with black hair and glasses, smiling and wearing a black top and black and white scarf with a fruit and veg stall in the backgroundTom Toseland/BBC
Morcea Walker from Northampton Carnival urged local people to support the market

Another person who has been looking forward to the return of the market is Morcea Walker from Northampton Carnival, which has included the square on its parade route.

She said when she moved to Northampton in 1973 the market was "the centre - the busiest thing in the town centre and it had such a buzz".

She said the new market was "going to be really exciting - let's support it".

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links
More from the BBC