The regeneration of Preston indoor retail market is a blueprint for how shopping centres and retail food markets can work together in the future, according to the third National Food Markets Conference entitled “Growing a Market”, last week.
“Markets need to grow and Preston market is the nearest I have seen to the future of the composite market,” Borough Market’s George Nicholson told delegates in Blackpool. “It is now in what is initially a shed, with shops around, but after the regeneration it will be the centre of the shopping centre.”
Preston’s indoor food market is located in a 1970s building next to a Victorian canopy which houses casual market traders and car boot sales. The regeneration plans will see the indoor food traders moved into the canopy area, which by then will have a glass façade. The development, known as the Tithebarn regeneration scheme, will then be surrounded by retail outlets, including a flagship John Lewis store.
Ken Greig of design consultancy Greig & Stephenson, who is currently working on four buildings, including Preston Market, for the regeneration scheme, told the market conference: “The idea is to refresh the trading zones - [businesses] cannot develop them by themselves. We are going to allow traders space outside their trading areas and give them room to grow.”
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