New £1.8m market hopes to attract customer boost
BBCA £1.8m market has opened in a Cheshire town to replace a 1960s indoor market due for demolition.
Cheshire West and Chester Council has relocated Northwich Market to from Weaver Square to Barons Quay.
The development first opened a decade ago, but a number of empty units remain in the site.
Councillor Nathan Pardoe, from Cheshire West and Chester Council, said he hoped the new market would bring more people into the town centre.
The market includes 19 stalls, including food and retail units, and the council said it was fully let.
It replaces the old indoor market, which opened in 1966.
The site at Weaver Square is set to be demolished and replaced by between 150 - 200 new homes.
"We recognise as a council that markets are important to town centres," Pardoe said.
The council has spent money on its markets in recent years.
A new market opened in Chester in 2022, as part of the Northgate regeneration scheme, and £8m was recently spent on refurbishing the site in Ellesmere Port.
Pardoe said the authority wanted the site in Northwich to be "for the town".
"Every market is of the place it's for," he said.
He added the council was still in discussions over the plans for the market's old site.
"If you think about the market and Weaver Square, both being about the same thing really for town centres, they're about getting people back into town," he said.
"So the market attracts people and footfall and Weaver Square, when it's redeveloped, that will be new people living in the town centre and those things together help make the town more vibrant."
Barons Quay opened in 2016 and has 29 retail spaces including a cinema and a supermarket.
But the council has struggled to fill the centre and there have also been closures, including River Island and The Dockyard pub.
In the authority's latest financial reports, the council said trading conditions remain "challenging" at Barons Quay.
But it did say 2025/26 was the first year the centre was able to repay debt linked to its construction - although there is a further £61m still to repay.
Andrew Cooper, the Labour MP for Mid Cheshire, said Barons Quay had been "unfortunately timed in the cycle of retail" but felt the market's move would bring more shoppers to the area.
"The council has done the right thing by thinking differently, trying to do something that brings smaller retailers in, brings more footfall down to this end of town," he said.
"I think it can only be a good thing for Northwich."
Joe Wardle owns one of the new businesses at the market.
He already has two bars in Northwich so the site in the market, Casa del Sal, is his third venture in the town.
"Doing it for nine years now, I've kind of known my way around it a little bit," he said.
There's obviously still stuff to learn, but when this opportunity presented itself just to be a part of the group in this new, exciting event I couldn't say no."
Rick Dickens, co-owner of Retro Fits, said he and his business partner Nicola Ashbrook are both from the town "jumped at the opportunity" to open in the market.
He said he started the business, which sells American sportswear and vintage clothing, because there was not anywhere in the area selling those sorts of products.
"I didn't think I'd be here two years ago and to have this opportunity is wonderful," he said.
Meanwhile Daniel Cole, who runs Chicken Hatch, is from further afield.
"We wanted to move away from London and come to this area, and the opportunity to come to have the shop here as well, and we just fell in love with the area and wanted to come here," he said.
He did say he had originally planned to relocate to Chester as that is where his partner was from, but said he "really liked it" in Northwich.
Shoppers in the town have mixed views on the new site.
Susan and Julie said they "weren't impressed".
"I thought it was going to be like Warrington or Chester, be a proper food hall and like the old market place," Julie said.
Susan added she would have liked to have seen a butcher stall.
"Bring back the old market," she said.
Rodney and Sandra said it was "very nice" and were planning to take their granddaughter there for lunch.
"No markets are the same now are they", said Rodney.
"I can remember when they were very busy, the markets," he said.
Sandra added she said it would "take off, hopefully".
"I do hope it does well," added Rodney.
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