Page 11 - MarketTimesApril2015
P. 11

 Market Times • April 2015
REPORT
  Nick Johnson and his wife Jen Thomson are the brains behind the remarkable regeneration of Altrincham market
Janet Dean who has runs The Cheese Emporium was initially concerned about the market plans but she is now a convert
Cheese Emporium 34 years later, said: “We had concerns at first, but these have been proved wrong. New people are coming to this market. They come initially to visit the market hall, but then they come through to the covered market to do their food shopping,” she said.
Tuesday is the charter market day which dates back to 1290. Nick has introduced themes at the weekend. The first weekend of the month is home and garden. The second is food and farm. The third is vintage, and the fourth is craft.
Sunday is a “made in the north-west’ showcase market.
As always, where there are winners there are also losers, and the non-food traders who have been moved to a new purpose-built covered market in New Market Square, say their trade is down.
people chat over a cup of tea. Young people turn up for a pizza before heading off to the Manchester clubs.
Strangers strike up conversations and families enjoy quality time together.
“In my opinion Nick is a visionary and I hope this is just the beginning of a move to rejuvenate the whole of the town centre,” Philip said.
And that is exactly Nick’s plan. “This is just the first step. The market should be the catalyst for the regeneration of the town centre,” Nick said.
It is certainly bringing new people into Altrincham by creating a destination. Open from 10 am to 10 pm Monday to Friday, from 9amto10pmonSaturdayandfrom10amto 6 pm on Sunday, the market hall has had to
close its doors at the busiest times because the building is full.
And this phenomenal success has come despite the setback of a fire early on New Year’s Eve which closed the market hall for weeks.
“Like most modern businesses these days, we make good use of social media and when we appealed for 1,000 people to come along to “hug” the market to chivvy along the council to get us open again, they turned up in force,” Nick said.
Whilst his main push has been to create a destination market hall, Nick has invigorated the covered market next door, much to the delight of its traders.
Janet Dean, who began working at the cheese stall at 14 and is now the proprietor of The
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Philip Long, a retired insolvency specialist and a regular at the market, describes Nick Johnson as a visionary and hopes the new- look market will be the start of a much wider regeneration of Altrincham
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