Dudley Market £150k improvement project now starting

A new outdoor seating area to create a food court, pop-up food stalls and CCTV will be among the features due to be installed in Market Place in time for summer.

Dudley Council said it was hopeful that the investment it will result in more footfall to to the town centre to support stallholders as well as attracting new traders. The new-look market is expected to be completed and open  to shoppers by the end of June.

The revamp will include work to replace eight of the stalls with the undercover seating area featuring glass screens to protect shoppers from bad weather.

The plans to remove some of the stalls and replace them with an outdoor dining area and undercover events space, were granted permission earlier this year.

While the cash for the improvements has come is from the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and not from council reserves.

Councillor Paul Bradley, deputy leader of the council, said: “We need to do all we can to encourage greater footfall to the market and the town centre to help our traders.

“We have seen that when Tudor Markets have put events on in the town it has resulted in a real boost for businesses.

“By realigning the current layout of the market and putting this seating area in, it will make it a much more flexible space and much easier to put events on in the future.

“We intend to install CCTV as a measure to assist in preventing anti-social behaviour, while also making stalls more flexible to assist traders.

“The market refurbishment is intended to benefit all traders in the town, not just those on the market, and I hope it will become a real central hub and gathering point for visitors.

“These improvements are part of a wider regeneration strategy to help the town.”

The market dates back to the 12th century, but has struggled in recent years.