Worried traders say they are being “kept in the dark” over their forthcoming move into a new indoor market hall being built in Wigan town centre.
Several business owners told Radio Manchester they did know what their new stalls would look like at the Fettlers shopping centre.
Ray Smith, who has sold shoes at Wigan market for 34 years, said: “They haven’t given us any idea of floorplans or how big our stalls are going to be.”
Wigan Council said it was working with the market operator to clarify those details and would continue to support traders.
As well as an indoor market hall, the Fettlers shopping centre will include a Hilton hotel, an office block, leisure facilities and about 450 apartments.
It will replace the Galleries shopping centre, which was bought by Wigan Council in 2018 and has since been demolished.
Kathleen Clunan, who sells cold meats and pies at Wigan indoor market hall, said: “I will need new refrigerators, hot displays, rotisseries and slicing machines.”
The 61-year-old added: “Those things will cost tens of thousands of pounds and I fear the new indoor market hall won’t have the space for everything I have now.”
Aidan Thatcher, director of place at Wigan Council, said the local authority had supported the traders.
“We want to put the market hall back in the heart of the town centre,” he said.
“The council will pay for things like storage, fridges and cooking facilities.”
The council said it had acknowledged a sharp reduction in footfall to the market and had reduced rents by 50%.
The local authority also said it had not passed on rises in energy bills and had built a new car park next to the existing indoor market.
Some traders said the construction site for the new Fettlers shopping centre had left the existing market hall isolated on the edge of the town centre.
Laura Tomlinson, who has worked at June’s Farmhouse Barbecue at Wigan indoor market for 20 years, said: “There’s nobody coming in – its diabolical.
“Eventually it will be bustling but how many businesses will survive until then?”
The hospitality operator Northern Lights Group has been appointed to manage the indoor market at Fettlers, which is expected to open before Christmas 2026.
The Fettlers shopping centre will include a new public square, providing an access route to the Victorian Makinson Arcade.
The name of the new shopping centre comes from the phrase “in fine fettle”, which refers to a piece of metal or pottery which has had its rough edges trimmed.
