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.
A council spokesperson confirmed: “Work to replace the roof of the Grainger Market is progressing steadily. We had hoped that all work would be completed by late summer, however, the project will be delayed by a number of weeks.
“While naturally disappointing, this is not unusual given the age of this Grade I Listed building which was always going to be challenging. Despite the setbacks, we are confident the Grainger Market will once again become one of the city’s most popular attractions.”
The refurbishment works had to be halted in November 2019 after contractors Esh Build found structural weaknesses in the Grainger Market’s gable walls, and restarted just over a year ago after the council borrowed £1.9m to cover the spiralling cost of the project – which totalled £5.15m. Earlier this year, it emerged that it was costing the local authority £300,000-a-year to keep the historic city centre market running, as the Grainger Market was branded a “drain” on city resources.
Alongside the troublesome renovations, the centre was also badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic – with traders racking up more than half a million pounds in rent arrears to the council. Stallholders had previously criticised the council for refusing to cut their rent even when they were forced to shut during lockdown and had no source of income.
However, there are hopes that a multi-million pound boost awarded from the government’s Levelling Up Fund last year will help make the market a thriving, profitable operation once again. The council added: “Early next month we will be meeting with traders and stakeholders to discuss the next phase of the redevelopment programme to invest £7m of levelling up funding in the market.”
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