Council keen to offload Grimsby Market to private operator once it has relocated to former BHS store

                                                            

The original scheme for a large-windowed new market hall seems to have fallen by the wayside

IT looks like North East Lincolnshire Council has scrapped plans to build a swish new market hall in Grimsby's Freshney Place precinct.

Its latest update reveals that its preferred option is now to relocate it from its present site to the premises once occupied by the BHS clothing retailer.

There will also be something of a rebranding such that it might become known not as an 'indoor market' but as a 'food hall', though there would also be some non-food stalls as an 'ancillary complementary market'.

North East Lincolnshire Council has decided on this re-focusing of emphasis in the wake of its officers' research in other towns and advice from  the National Market Traders' Federation 

Says a report to councillors: "It is recommended that the council continues to take the advice of specialists and, at the appropriate time, to run an exercise to procure a third-party operator to run the facility."

It continues: "The former BHS unit has been stripped back to a shell, and a contractor has provided a price to deliver the development. 

"Should a decision be made to proceed, the council will move to contract, with works commencing early next year, with practical completion due (ie prior to tenants fit out) in spring 2027. 

"During the transfer, it is proposed that a temporary market be provided for both within the Freshney Place mall and in other retail units."

The report adds: "It is  essential to continue the engagement and communicate with the traders as soon as is possible if the decision is made to proceed."

                                          

Grimsby indoor market. There are hopes of a higher take-up of stalls in the proposed 'food hall' in former BHS premises