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No need to have a market in Chap. Asda sell everything you could ever need. Including pork that comes from Germany. The reason they sell pork so cheaply is that it comes from Germany. Absolutely unbelievable.

 

Having recently moved into the area I have quickly developed a love/hate relationship with the supermarket that dominates Chapeltown. Hugely convenient, but I don't like spending all my money in the one place and I do like small local shops.

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Having recently moved into the area I have quickly developed a love/hate relationship with the supermarket that dominates Chapeltown. Hugely convenient, but I don't like spending all my money in the one place and I do like small local shops.

 

ASDA is a bizarre and hugely ugly building.

With the vehicular entrance off some narrow residential back road, no pedestrian entrance fronting the shopping area, and the service entrance out through the busiest part of the shopping area.. How they got planning permission for that I dont know :suspect:

 

 

They should somehow create a new entrance using one of the shops below with escalators up into the store to make it form part of the village centre rather than having its back to it and sucking the life out of it!

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People seem to be talking about Chapeltown Asda like if its some new thing plonked in the middle of the village and ruining the local shops.

 

Asda has been there nearly 40 years so I hardly think it can be sole blame for the recent downward spiral of trade in the local businesses.

 

At the time of its building the traffic, housing positions, footfall and purposes were very different.

 

Its building allowed for some of the 'local' shops to exist by creating additonal units on its lower floors and also brought the railway station platforms closer to said shops, the old station being much further away from the shopping streets.

 

Whilst I would agree that to modern day eyes the access to car park is not ideal, there is very little else they could do. Better to have cars going up Suffolk Road than trying to get HGVs up there! Where else is would it be possible to put the loading bays? As for direct access to the store - I doubt its that easy to cut a hole in the roof and install escalators/lifts without losing major amounts of what is already tiny sales floor space.

 

Old fashioned as it may be, the store was built in a different era before the modern day layouts, entrances, moving walkways and giant trolley size lifts customers would expect these days. As far as the original design was concerned there is sufficient pedestrian access between shops and the store through its long ramp or its entrance from the Southbound rail platform or its stairs which lead straight down to behind the Lloyds Bank.

 

Given there are houses and businesses all over one side and a mainline railway track on the other, there is very little they can do to change it.

 

TBH, I was surprised it kept open at all once Parsons Cross Asda and Morrisons opened. Maybe one day they will do another purpose built one out at Throncliffe or some empty land near High Green.

 

Risk is, that would draw more people away from the Market and 'local' shops.

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I wouldn't be surprised if the market closed up in the coming years. I've only been a handful of times in the 16 years I've lived in Chapeltown but I've always thought it's a bit of a let down stall wise.

 

To be honest the space it occupies would make an ideal little bus terminus / boarding area like the one at Hillsborough rather than them clogging up the road under the railway bridge as they do now.

Edited by WaveyDavey

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I wouldn't be surprised if the market closed up in the coming years. I've only been a handful of times in the 16 years I've lived in Chapeltown but I've always thought it's a bit of a let down stall wise.

 

To be honest the space it occupies would make an ideal little bus terminus / boarding area like the one at Hillsborough rather than them clogging up the road under the railway bridge as they do now.

 

The market space definitively needs developing. Network Rail have sold off all their railway arches and apparently (assuming these were part of the sale) the new owners hope to start utilising under used / non occupied arches. It looks like there is a couple fronting onto the market area (but blocked off at the front by the chinese and adjacent shops) which could be brought into use- land ownership/access rights permitting. The site of the grim looking WMC could form part of a larger development.

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The market space definitively needs developing. Network Rail have sold off all their railway arches and apparently (assuming these were part of the sale) the new owners hope to start utilising under used / non occupied arches. It looks like there is a couple fronting onto the market area (but blocked off at the front by the chinese and adjacent shops) which could be brought into use- land ownership/access rights permitting. The site of the grim looking WMC could form part of a larger development.

 

THIS is the old Chapeltown WMC. Looks a better building that the present one.

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Pulling down the Market stalls and opening up the area as a car park would be my suggestion.

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TBH, I was surprised it kept open at all once Parsons Cross Asda and Morrisons opened. Maybe one day they will do another purpose built one out at Throncliffe or some empty land near High Green.

 

I think it's fairly similar to Sainsburys in Dronfield and Sainsburys on Archer Road. They serve different catchment areas so can coexist quite well.

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Does anybody know if the WMC has any plans for the land the markets were on? I thought these clubs were largely short of cash going by the number that close down?

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I believe it's quite a privilege to be able to hold a market (going back to medieval charters etc,) so I think Chaleltown should hang on to its market. But it needs a big injection of oomph. At the moment it's a huge letdown. It needs to become a destination, get a buzz going.

 

I'd like to see it invigorated with new vendors, new ideas and a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. Different markets on different days perhaps? Eg a craft market, gardener's market, vintage market, artisan's market, fresh fruit and veg, antiques, car boot, an auction day, etc etc. Or maybe one of each every day?

 

We live in a time of chain stores and Corporate shops, in other words, all the same. Something different would stand out and benefit all Chapeltown.

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I believe it's quite a privilege to be able to hold a market (going back to medieval charters etc,) so I think Chaleltown should hang on to its market. But it needs a big injection of oomph. At the moment it's a huge letdown. It needs to become a destination, get a buzz going.

 

I'd like to see it invigorated with new vendors, new ideas and a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. Different markets on different days perhaps? Eg a craft market, gardener's market, vintage market, artisan's market, fresh fruit and veg, antiques, car boot, an auction day, etc etc. Or maybe one of each every day?

 

We live in a time of chain stores and Corporate shops, in other words, all the same. Something different would stand out and benefit all Chapeltown.

 

Pie in the sky, Anna.. I agree with you, but as you say people today prefer the chain stores and corporates, plus the many many cheap shops, Market traders just can"t compete. Gone are the days when I used to enjoy a sunday morning run out to a market.

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I believe it's quite a privilege to be able to hold a market (going back to medieval charters etc,) so I think Chaleltown should hang on to its market. But it needs a big injection of oomph. At the moment it's a huge letdown. It needs to become a destination, get a buzz going.

 

I'd like to see it invigorated with new vendors, new ideas and a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. Different markets on different days perhaps? Eg a craft market, gardener's market, vintage market, artisan's market, fresh fruit and veg, antiques, car boot, an auction day, etc etc. Or maybe one of each every day?

 

We live in a time of chain stores and Corporate shops, in other words, all the same. Something different would stand out and benefit all Chapeltown.

 

We also live in a time when not many people are about in the day time to visit markets- everyone has to work these days, not just the man of the house! Anything happening on a weekday - day time isnt going to attract much custom.

 

It would be nice to see a Sharrow Vale style foodie market on there at weekends going into the evenings. The WMC could put a bar on.

 

It would be nice to see anything happen there though!

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