Goodbye Newport Provisions Market, hello “24-hour working/living space”

[editor]

I've never visited this place and I guess I never will now...

After more than 30 years working in Newport’s indoor market, record stallholder Dean Beddis was packing up his collection of punk, new wave, reggae, funk and soul discs for the last time.

“It’s the end of an era,” said Beddis. “This building is much more than a market. It’s a family, a wonderful community that has developed over decades. This is the heart and soul of Newport. I think that is all going to be lost. I’ve had people here in tears. It’s so sad.”


Opened in the 19th century, Newport Provisions Market has served the south Wales city well, but is in the midst of fundamental changes.

Most of the stallholders are moving out and builders will soon arrive to convert the place into a multi-million pound, multi-purpose centre.

Some market stalls will remain but there will also be apartments, offices, a food court with pop-up units and a performance space. Newport city council calls it “potentially the largest market redevelopment in the UK” and says it will create a “24-hour working/living space”.

Many are not convinced. “This isn’t trendy Camden,” said Beddis. “It’s working-class Newport.” He remembers how Newport people would bring in fruit, veg and flowers from their allotments to sell at the market. He used to collect chestnuts to sell to help make ends meet. “What people want here is a thriving, proper market. Not a fake version of a market.”

And the classic developer move:

The developers say the stallholders can stay if they want to. But Mike Turner, a butcher whose father founded AD Turner & Sons here in 1961, said the terms being offered were not attractive. “I’m looking for new premises. We’re absolutely heartbroken to be going. When my father started, there were 23 butchers in this market. We’re the last one. But we feel we have no choice but to go. They are changing the whole nature and purpose of the place.”

Four or five businesses say they will remain. The comic store, Friendly Neighbourhood Comics, is staying, as is the cafe Lisa’s Kitchen and an escape room business. Hilary from Bibs and Bobs, who has been selling children’s clothes for 29 years, is still making her final decision.

But up to 30 traders, including a long-established greengrocers and a secondhand bookshop, are moving out. Stalls that have already vanished over recent years include a delicatessen, pet supplies shop and a fishmongers.

'End of an era': Newport market stalls pack up ahead of new development

Most stallholders prepare to leave as 19th-century market is transformed into a multi-million-pound centre

www.theguardian.com

 

[Big Bertha]

The end of an era