Massive rent arrears and over-running repairs have made Newcastle’s beloved Grainger Market a “drain” on city resources, a report has warned.
Council bosses say that it is costing them £300,000-a-year to keep the historic city centre market running, after traders were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. Stallholders have racked up a whopping debt of more than half a million pounds to Newcastle City Council over the past two years, while the bills for restoring the site’s roof have spiralled above £5m as the project has dragged more than two years behind schedule.
Traders previously criticised the council in 2020 for refusing to cut rent payments for their stalls, even when they were forced to shut during lockdown and had no source of income. However, local authority chiefs say they will give struggling independent businesses time to pay their arrears and hope that multi-million pound upgrades secured through the government’s Levelling Up Fund will see the famous institution become a thriving, profitable hub once again.
