Indoor markets are not just wonderful heritage – they are where the retailers of the future are born

Yesterday I headed to Newcastle’s famous Grainger Market – as I do quite often – to pick up some supplies for dinner.

Occupying a large block of the city centre surrounded by four of Richard Grainger’s Tyneside Classical streets – Nelson Street, Clayton Street, Nun Street, and, of course, Grainger Street – the market is one of the few places in Newcastle city centre where it’s still possible to find a greengrocer, never mind a fish counter or a proper butcher.

Currently home to around 100 different stalls, the Grainger Market has been serving Newcastle customers for an astonishing 190 years, having opened way back in 1835. The mix of businesses has evolved – back at the start it was nearly all meat and vegetables – but the principle of making good quality food available at affordable prices to the people of the city has continued to this day.

Meanwhile, the last decade or two has seen the market become more of a place to linger as well as shop, with an array of street food stalls introduced, though the 5.30 pm closing time has so far prevented it turning into an Altrincham-style night-time hotspot.

However, the ongoing £9 million revamp – largely funded by an award from the last government’s Levelling Up Fund – should help ensure that the Grainger Market is in rude health as it approaches its bicentenary.

Heritage lens

With history simply oozing from the Grainger Market’s pores, it’s hard not to see the place through a heritage lens.

The market is only still live and kicking, though, because it has kept moving with the times. Just this week, for instance, an article in the Chronicle has reported on a new food venue, The Forest Boost, opening on 8 March, “offering superfoods, smoothies and sandwiches inspired by the Brazilian rainforests”.

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According to the article, the owners Hugo and Alessandra “have spent years trading at markets and food festivals”, before deciding to open permanent premises.

And that raises another important question. If it were not for indoor market halls like the Grainger Market, where would businesses like The Forest Boost take their first steps on to the high street?

In Newcastle city centre, certainly, it is all but impossible for a fledgling independent to find any standalone premises that offer an acceptable balance of size, character, cost and footfall.

First steps

Happily, as well as the Grainger Market filling this gap, we are fortunate in the North East to still have a decent number of indoor markets in various states of health, including, for example, Jacky White’s Market in Sunderland, Darlington Market, and the Dundas Market in Middlesbrough, which even added extra space and stalls at the end of last year.

We must not underestimate the importance of our indoor markets as a place where new and early-stage businesses can find their feet in a supportive and low-risk setting.

Graham Soult

There is also, of course, the fantastic and almost always fully occupied Durham Market Hall, which is probably the one I know best after working with many of the traders as part of my Indie Durham City work over the last few years. Opened in 1851, it’s only a few years more youthful than the Grainger Market up the road.

As I remark frequently, the evolving retail landscape means that – at least outside of the big cities like Newcastle – it is increasingly plausible for independents to take larger or more prime units on high streets.

Though by no means universal, many landlords have lowered rents to more realistic levels – and become more amenable to taking on indies as well as multiples – while shorter and more flexible leases make it easier to take a punt on an idea.

Durham’s Silver Street, for example, has become significantly more independent – and less clone town – since Covid.

Having said all that, we must not underestimate the importance of our indoor markets as a place where new and early-stage businesses can find their feet in a supportive and low-risk setting.

Durham Market Hall, for instance, still has its traditional stalls for fish, cheese, vegetable, toys, pet supplies and more, but in my time working there it has seen new arrivals that are wonderfully creative, niche and interesting.

Previous Indie Durham City “cover stars” (featured as the header on the project’s social media channels) include the wonderful Tarryn at The Nook, who attracts a keen audience for her handmade gluten-free and vegan treats; and the LGBTQ+ bookshop BookWyrm, whose colourful shop is a browsers’ delight, a safe space for the community, and the hub of the Durham Children’s Book Festival, which bookshop owners Chris and Miles now organise.

The affordable and flexible Durham Market Hall – where it’s easy for businesses to grow, downsize, or relocate to a different spot, all within a prime city centre location – offers the perfect environment in which new businesses can build both their confidence and an audience.

Just as importantly, a market like this is a proper community of independent businesses. I’ve seen how the traders in Durham champion and look out for each other, and all their businesses end up being better for it – universal, wholesome values that are probably not so different from when the Market Hall first opened almost two centuries ago.

Even now, that sense of community and camaraderie is surely one of the factors that underpins the best indoor markets. If a place has warmth and soul, the customers can feel it.

What next?

If these market halls are where new businesses can evolve and grow, we do need to ask ourselves if we are doing enough to help those traders take the next steps on their journeys.

That’s partly about providing the right support, and helping businesses develop the breadth of skills that they need for the future, but also a question of doing what we can to curate the right kinds of follow-on spaces.

I’ve worked with businesses in the past that have moved from a market hall to their own shop and the biggest thing they have missed is having other people around them.

Graham Soult

In Durham, for sure, it can be challenging for Market Hall businesses that want their own front door to make the leap into the outside world.

That’s not necessarily because of cost – though Durham has always been a relatively expensive place to trade – but just as much because suitable, and available, accommodation is thin on the ground.

Newcastle, in contrast, has somewhat more space available, but making the move from the Grainger Market to beyond is always a big step up in terms of outgoings, with no guarantee that a bigger rent and rates bill will also mean more footfall and sales.

It’s not all about cost, though. I’ve worked with businesses in the past that have moved from a market hall to their own shop and the biggest thing they have missed is having other people around them. An indoor market isn’t just a space – it’s a support network too, as well as a place where customers can visit one stall and serendipitously discover other businesses they had no idea existed.

In many towns where there is a surplus of large retail units, there is certainly a case for the owners of those properties to look at how they might carve those spaces up into smaller and more affordable units that meet the needs of independents.

However, as market traders look to secure their own premises without necessarily losing the sense of community that they value, there is also an argument for encouraging like-minded businesses to cohabit in shop units that they can occupy together.

Concession arrangements are commonplace among multiples – maybe we’ll see it becoming more usual among indies too.

If indoor markets are indeed where the retailers of the future are born, it’s in everyone’s interests to have an agile and flexible commercial property market that gives those businesses the best opportunity to fulfil their rich potential.