The people and businesses left behind as new market is built without them
FORMER traders at Caerphilly’s indoor market have called out the council for being “ruthless” as its closure leads to job losses and uncertain futures.
The former market on Pentrebane Street in the town centre closed for good in January, with plans secured for a new container-style market to open in September on Park Lane.
The council has also approved plans to redevelop Pentrebane Street, which will see the demolition of the former market and compulsory purchases of the adjoining buildings on the market side of the street.
The project is part of the Caerphilly 2035 regeneration programme and will involve Linc Cymru building 73 apartments, along with seven commercial units to attract businesses. Accommodation will include a mix of social and market rent properties.
Its aim is to transform the area in and around Pentrebane Street with three buildings and new public spaces.
Although this may sound like a much-needed revival for a historic part of the town centre, it hasn’t come without sacrifice, former market traders said.
Two former traders said they had been largely out of work since January, while another business owner said she felt she had no choice but to move away from Pentrebane Street because she no longer has enough footfall to keep her shop afloat.
Stephanie Lennon owned a traditional sweet shop named Sweet Shack at the market.
She took the business over in summer 2021 and said it had helped her overcome anxiety and depression.
Since the market closed, she said she hasn’t been able to afford to set up shop anywhere else.
The 38-year-old said: “We had to leave on January 20 and I can’t afford to go anywhere else.
“The council offered us some help, but we had to have money to have the help.
“I was in the first year of business so I hadn’t made enough – my stepdad bought the business for me, so I was sending money back to him.
“My kids are 18 and 20 now and independent, so the sweet shop was supposed to help me discover who I am again and what I wanted to do with my time.
“I still do a couple of things – I do balloons for friends and family and that’s how I deal with my anxiety and boredom now, but money has been a bit tighter.”
Stephanie said she had seen applications for the new container-style market, but assumed they would be too expensive for her to move into.
Although she has explored other options, she said places had so far either been too expensive or logistically difficult to move her shop into.
“I thought I would have had more support since I already had a business and had been made to move out of the market,” she said.
“I’m the only traditional sweet shop in Caerphilly town and I was expanding my business by making balloons – that wasn’t taken into consideration.
“When I first moved there I had hardly any customers, but it was really starting to build up and I had regular customers. It made town fun for the kids and parents liked it.
“It felt like the council had been planning this for years and let [Pentrebane Street] get run down. For example, if they had events on, they would shut it off.”
Although Stephanie said her current situation is far from ideal, she said she still thinks the new market will be a good asset to the town once it is complete.
She said: “The new market does look like it will be lovely, in all fairness, and the old market did need upgrading. However, the council is about how they want variety at the new market, but it seems like it will be at the upper end compared to the old market. I’m not sure about that, since we have a cost-of-living crisis right now.”
Kevin Grant owned Castle Tackle and Bait at the former market.
Since its closure in January, he said he had been unemployed, but sells his leftover stock from his spare bedroom. He has been applying for new jobs, with no success yet.
He said: “I’m unemployed and although I’m applying for jobs, I’m not getting anywhere and I’m depressed. I’m disabled from a broken back and I could do things on my own terms with my own business.
“The support I have had from the council has been nonexistent. The way they told us they bought the market six months before they actually [closed] it, it killed my business for the rest of the year.
“I’ve now got all my stuff in my spare bedroom. I sell a bit every now and then to make ends meet, but I can’t display it because the room is not big enough.”
When the Echo previously spoke to James Pritchard – Caerphilly council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for prosperity, regeneration and climate change – about whether the new market would include traders from the original market, Cllr Pritchard said it would be a “competitive process”.
He said: “No business will be given a guarantee. We have to be fair, open and transparent. We have a letting strategy which sets out a lot of the criteria. Anyone is free to put forward an expression of interest.”
However, Kevin said he believes his traditional-style business would not make the cut for the modern container market coming to the town.
What’s more, he claimed that if he were to run his business from a stall in the new market for a year, it would cost him about £30,000 including business rates, bills and general running costs – a price he could not pay even if the new market welcomed him.
He said: “I don’t fit into their portfolio of what they expect for that market. They’re looking for food places and people who make touristy stuff, not someone like me. It’s detrimental to my business. I’m fuming at the diabolical way we have been treated. The council has been ruthless.”
It’s not just former market traders who say they have been affected by the closure.
Cheryl Ford owned House of Sparkle directly opposite the market, until she packed up and left in July.
Although the council confirmed she would not receive a compulsory purchase order, she said footfall had fallen so low in the past few months that she could no longer afford her rent.
“Originally I had a stall in the market, then because business was going so well for me, I moved here because I needed and could afford a bigger premises,” she said.
“When the market closed we had someone from the council tell us she was going to help us maintain footfall by letting everyone know that the street was still open.
“Previously, whenever there was an event in Caerphilly this street was cut off, so we didn’t have any business while the town was at its busiest.
“However, we were told there would be stalls at the end of our street during the recent food festival event, to encourage people to enter the street.
“Then on the day there were no stalls and they put a bowling alley at the end of the street so it looked like it was closed. We were devastated and flabbergasted because we felt like they would not help us.
“I’ve had to close down now because the footfall won’t even cover my rent. It has absolutely killed my business. The regular customers are devastated because they say there’s nothing really in Caerphilly other than charity shops, food places and hairdressers.”
Adding to her issues, Cheryl said since its closure, the former market had become a target for anti-social behaviour, with items thrown off the roof.
She said: “It’s flawed us and I’ve decided I can’t stand it anymore.”
But for some former Caerphilly Market traders, its closure turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Paul Livermore runs the Upmarket Family Butchers along with his wife
Catherine. Paul’s father started the business around 20 years ago before the couple gave up their careers to take over the business in January 2022.
When the council first announced the closure of the market, the couple said it felt like a “nightmare”, as they worried what their future might look like.
However, more than a year on, the couple have a new shop in a prime location on Bartlett Street which has allowed the business to thrive – far better than it did in the old market.
Paul said: “We had only just moved in when the council decided they were going to sell the building, but we did have some help from the council.
“This shop had been empty for about 10 years and I put a lot of my own money into it, but we also had a moving grant.
“When we were in the market, there were three of us full-time, but business has been brilliant here and a lot better than in the old market, so we have more staff members now.
“There are five of us, including a full-time cook and some part-timers. We’re happy with the new location. We didn’t want to be right in the town centre because of parking, but at least here people can pull in and there are a few places to stop.”
Although, as previously stated, the council told the Echo that no business
would be given a guaranteed spot at the new market, Paul said the council has offered his business a spot there. We approached Caerphilly council to clarify this point.
Paul said: “The council did offer us a place down there, but it wasn’t big enough, then they offered us two spots but it still wasn’t big enough.
“We make home-made faggots and sausages, so we might open something that sells produce along those lines at the new market.
“We’ve kept it in the back of our minds that we will open something down there. It won’t be a proper butcher’s, but we may sell comfort food like pie or faggots and mash.”
Cllr Pritchard said: “Every single trader in the former market was offered the opportunity of significant financial support to relocate and improve their businesses.
“It’s fantastic to see those businesses who accepted the offer of support on a 50/50 basis to see their businesses doing really well in a new location.
“It is completely untrue to suggest there hasn’t been support from the council. In fact, the support has been extensive, with all businesses offered the exact same support.
“It would be unfair for any business to expect the taxpayer to completely bankroll them, whilst others have been prepared to take advantage of the 50/50 financial support from the council
“The indoor market building is a disgrace to Caerphilly and has been in the hands of private owners who haven’t been bothered to maintain the building. That’s why we’re taking the initiative to redevelop the street.
“Something that is badly needed and always brought up on the doorstep.
“Regeneration is badly needed in Caerphilly. There will always be some opposition to change of any kind. The vast majority of residents want positive change”.
Caerphilly council was approached for comment.