Collaboration between wholesale market tenants and their landlords don’t tend to be straightforward in the UK and too often, the industry has seen well-established, profitable markets become ineffective and rundown, ironically because of the promise of renovation and revitalisation. Investment stops almost completely on both sides, because what business or council would want to throw money on a temporary solution? In many cases, facilities decay, the atmosphere deteriorates and plans get shelved.
But it is at this part of the tale that Hull’s market differs. There is no doubt that the market deteriorated and the old market on Humber Street, within the city centre, got into such a state that pictures of the dire conditions that traders had to work in for more than 10 years are up on the office walls of the new facility for all to see, like war medals.
“The situation became ridiculous; mould was growing on the walls, the paper we used was all damp,” says Mike Nellist, owner of Nellist & Co, one of the oldest companies left on the market with six generations under its belt. “It was no place for human beings, let alone fresh food. What we have now is fantastic and a dream come true, especially compared to what we had.”
To Hull and back
When the eight fruit and vegetable wholesalers moved to the new site, Priory Park in West Hull, talks of the redevelopment of the old street market site or a move to a new location that would have left the traditional site redevelopment by Hull City Council had been circulating for more than seven years.
“We were the last existing wholesale street market in England,” explains Phil Hough of Associated Growers Hull Ltd. “It was developed in the early 1900s and when I started on the market in 1969, it had 36 pitches. The pitches were like gold dust in the pre-supermarket boom and it was brilliant. But in the 1980s, the supermarket revolution hit Hull especially hard, as we were one of the last towns in the country to get a supermarket. Trade fell by the wayside and the council had wanted to redevelop Humber Street for a long time because it was a prime central location. Three years ago, consultancy firm Ispace got involved and acted on behalf of Hull Forward, which was then the regeneration arm of Hull City Council.”
The traders at the market managed to get a good deal and an agreement was set up by the council on a like-for-like basis; traders received a 100 per cent like-for-like grant for each part of the first floor operated at the market. The eight remaining traders pulled together to buy their units and Ispace set about a tender for the land at Priory Estate.
The new market has 12 units on 70,000 sq ft of trading space over a four-acre site, with access to the A63. What’s more, some of the extra units were bought out by the traders and are now rented out to prepared fruit and vegetable distribution companies.
“The old site had become a bottleneck,” continues Hough. “We probably lost trade over the years because of it. We needed to move west of Hull, where there is motorway access and it is generally much easier for our customers to get to us.”
But there is still some regret over the old site, which had served these wholesalers’ grandfathers and great grandfathers before them. Hough believes that the council could have done something to not only save the wholesale fruit and vegetable industry in that location, but turn it into an attraction. “It was very clear that [the council] wanted us out, but why not incorporate us into a point of difference for the city?” he asks. “There were old cobbled streets underneath the tarmac and it was right by a port that could have been a tourist attraction. The old railway lines were still there and that could have been a feature. The redevelopment there has all been put on hold now. [Developer] Igloo won the contract to redesign the area into apartments, bars, cafés and restaurants, but then the downturn came and it all went up in the air.”
Onwards and upwards
“These warehouses are luxury to us,” insists Hough. “The last place was terrible, with 35-year-old fridges and green slime on the walls. There was no investment on the market for 10-15 years, as the move was always in the offing. Uncertainty was caused by the council and several plans fell through; if it wasn’t for Ispace getting involved and Mike Nellist representing the trade and reporting back to us, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Now the traders own their freeholds and have collectively set up the Hull Fruit & Flower Company to run and maintain communal areas, as well as look after security and insurance on the estate. The traders believe that this version of fruit and vegetable wholesale is unique and it certainly does look like the face of a new era for the industry, with a large courtyard-style area bridging the gap between the wholesale warehouses, light spacious sales areas and plenty of parking for customers, although it does seem a bit on the quiet side. The atmosphere of the traditional street market has faded, but then some would argue that it disappeared a long time before the move to the new site.
Trade was a little slower at the start of November and many wholesalers on Priory Park felt that the usual build up to Christmas was not as jolly as they would have liked. But aptly, springtime attracted further customers, including some that wouldn’t have approached the wholesale market at its traditional street market spot.
“We have had interest from past Humber Bridge, probably to the detriment of Sheffield and Leeds markets, but we used to have all those customers, so we are just pinching them back,” reasons Hough. “They wouldn’t have come to Hull in the last location because of the traffic. There are extra expenses here, of course, and before all of the lighting and cleaning was provided by the council and the rates were cheap on the street market, but this is so much nicer and we are picking up new customers.”
The final frontier?
Like many wholesale markets, Hull is finding that the future lies in catering distribution, in more ways than one. Foodservice suppliers are finding their way onto the market -something that was missing on the traditional street market.
Associated Growers Hull Ltd has rented 500 sq ft of its warehouse to prepared fruit and vegetable processor and supplier Newbridge Prepared Products. The business concentrates on both public and private catering enterprises and sources a lot of its produce from Associated Growers. “[Catering] is part of the future of wholesale,” says Jeff Thompson, owner of Newbridge Prepared Products. “I used to be a customer on the market every morning and then I started to prepare vegetables - different retailers wanted it for their customers and I had a lot of interest from country pubs, so it progressed from there and my initial base was not big enough. I have been busier than I thought here.”
Nellist & Co’s James Nellist is enthusiastic and he is always on the look-out for new products for his customers and ready to source whatever they need. As well as a growth in farmers’ markets in the area, supplying caterers is moving the business forward. “We are proactive in finding new business, like pubs and caterers,” he says.
“Hopefully, people will continue to be interested in different kinds of foods, and restaurants in Hull are very into local produce at the moment. Luckily, we have a good number of growers in the area.”
Dennis Butler Ltd is another business that has benefited from the catering effect, but the relatively new company, which was set up in 1982, has made sure that it has kept abreast of all opportunities available in the marketplace. It has a traditional wholesale offer providing product category experts - who have mostly been with the company since their school days - plus a fresh flower outlet and a prepared vegetable offer. “We sell everything from toilet roll to washing up liquid,” says owner Dennis Butler. “As supermarkets take the trade away from the small shops, those shops have tried to diversify and will stock anything their customers ask for and therefore so do we. If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be stocking crisps and nuts as well as fruit and veg, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Despite the vast range of products available at Butler’s, the company is now the biggest banana trader on Hull market and as well as setting up a small catering supplies company, it makes deliveries to customers within a 50-mile radius, six days a week, and runs a fleet of eight lorries and eight vans.
“We have specialists in every area and employ fathers, sons, uncles and wives; we very much thrive on family ties and look after them,” says Butler. “The best asset is always your staff. There are plenty of restaurants in this area and lots of local growers; we will survive.”
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