Unemployed looking for market jobs
Black Country jobseekers are turning their hands to working on market stalls in a bid to beat the recession.
Black Country jobseekers are turning their hands to working on market stalls in a bid to beat the recession.
Increasing numbers of people are looking to trade on markets for income after losing their jobs or suffering reduced hours.
Bosses at LSD Promotions, who run the Sunday Bescot Market in Walsall, now have a waiting list of people wanting one of the 200 plus stalls.
Sandwell Council chiefs have reported an increase in demand for setting up on pitches in areas such as Wednesbury and West Bromwich.
Staff at LSD Promotions have been operating stalls on the car parks of Walsall FC's ground off Bescot Crescent for more than 15 years. Director Dermot McGillicuddy said: "There has been an increase in demand and we have had quite a few new traders come in. It seems quite a few have lost jobs and are looking for new means of making a living.
"Others have got 9 to 5 jobs but maybe the hours are reduced and come out on a Sunday to work to supplement their income."
Councillor Mahboob Hussain, Sandwell Council cabinet member for neighbourhoods and housing, said: "We have had a noticeable rise in the last few months in people wanting a stall, particularly at Wednesbury and West Bromwich markets.
"This is encouraging and I have asked officers for a report on the possibility of operating more markets through Sandwell to bring more life into the town centres in places such as Oldbury," he added. Roy Pugh, market manager at Brierley Hill Market Hall, said although there hadn't been a noticeable increase in enquiries a large number of stalls were taken.
"Trade is quite good at the moment. We have got three or four stalls that aren't taken out of about 60 and there is a lot of foot traffic through the market," he said.
Markets across the West Midlands are facing their own struggles throughout the recession. Walsall market is due to move from its home at Digbeth to a temporary new location on The Bridge, where it is hoped it will attract more customers. The plan has hit a series of delays after Old Square Shopping Centre bosses objected to the move, saying the relocation of the stalls would take away shoppers from them.
Wolverhampton's outdoor, indoor and antiques market may one day move from Market Square to the more prominent Dudley Street to encourage shoppers.
Council chiefs have looked at the possibility of putting stalls in the building currently occupied by Marks & Spencers, which may eventually relocate into the planned new Summer Row Shopping Centre.
Brownhills market closed last month after operator Spook Erection could not agree a lease with Walsall Council.
But days after it shut, leaving 40 stallholders in limbo, the council announced it was to take it over. It now plans to reopen it in September, and even add an extra day of stalls each week.
