The renovation of Newcastle’s beloved Grainger Market has been hit by another setback.
A heavily-delayed refurbishment of the city centre market’s roof was due to be finished more than two years ago, in March 2020, but is still incomplete. “Hidden problems” were blamed last year as Newcastle City Council chiefs were forced to borrow almost £2m to finish the replacement of the Geordie institution’s “crumbling” barrelled roof, at which point it was hoped that the works would be completed this summer.
But it appears that traders and customers will have to put up with the disruption and the sight of scaffolding inside the market for a while longer. Civic centre officials have not revealed the cause of the latest delay or set a new target date for when the works should now be done, but say it will take “a number of weeks”. However, the local authority indicated that the cost of the works had not increased further at this stage.
