Traders' frustrations with council grow as footfall declines at Wednesfield Market

The market in Wolverhampton has seen a significant decline in stallholders since its heyday of the 1960s, with just three stalls open on some days.

A petition for improvements to the market has been set up by Max McEvoy, owner of Juicy Fruits fruit and vegetable shop, with more than 2,000 signatures already received.

The 50-year-old from Wednesfield is frustrated at the lack of action from Wolverhampton Council regarding the market.

He said: “The council is not doing anything to help. They’ve spent around £5 million on the city market and it seems to me that Bilston gets a lot of what it wants.”

Traders at the market, in High Street, have been speaking about the issues they feel the market faces.

Gary Green is the longest standing trader at the market, having run his fruit and vegetable stall since 1983.

The 54-year-old, a third generation of his family to trade, said a lack of footfall due to parking was the biggest issue the market faced.

“We feel like we’re banging our heads against a brick wall about the car parking,” he said.

“You can have the best market in the world but if you haven’t got anywhere to park you’ve got no footfall. I come down here on Mondays to do my banking and, at 9.30am, you can’t find a parking space.

"You can go into any shop and it’s empty, but you can’t get a parking space."

He added: “If councillor Steve Evans thinks these roofs offer greater protection I would love to invite him here on a windy and rainy day”.

Councillor Evans, cabinet member for city environment, has said that since 2016 market traders have seen up to a 31 per cent reduction in rent to try to improve occupancy.

He said the council had also introduced a £5 stall incentive for traders, with new roofs installed during the summer to shelter the stalls from bad weather.

However, Jon-Paul Allen, 40, who has run his key cutting and shoe repair stall for more than 12 years, believes the council has not done enough to help the traders and criticised the decision to not allow trade on the Monday before Christmas.

He said: “I think the council’s done nothing to help. For instance, the busiest day of the year for us will be the Monday before Christmas and we’re the only market that’s been told we can’t open.

“Apparently, it’s too expensive to send somebody down here to check for casuals to collect the rent. I said everything I could to them, such as saying we don’t need a cleaner for the Monday and that there was only going to be five of us on, but they just told us it was too expensive to send someone own to collect the rent.”

Hans Duggall, 54, says the current design of the market stalls is not fit for the purpose as it leaves his merchandise exposed to the elements. He said: “If you have a look at the stalls, whoever has made these stalls has got it totally wrong.

“When it rains, it comes in every direction and there’s no protection, so I’ve had damage done to several hundred pounds worth of stock.

“All we are asking the council to do is secure the stalls, get us proper coverage and protect us from the elements.”

A petition for improvements to the market has been set up by Max McEvoy, owner of Juicy Fruits shop, which already has more than 2,000 signatures.

The 50-year-old, from Wednesfield, is frustrated at the lack of action from Wolverhampton council regarding the market.

He said: “The council is not doing anything to help. They’ve spent around £5 million on the city market and it seems to me that Bilston gets a lot of what it wants.

“In the two and a half years I’ve been here, I’ve noticed the market’s just terrible. We offered, as a community, to take the market when the councillor was talking about a community transfer order, where the traders association was offering to run it ourselves, but the council don’t want to do that.”