Council explores handing Market Hall to operator

Derby City Council is exploring the possibility of handing the Market Hall over to a private operator amid a disappointing financial forecast.

The venue reopened in May 2025 following a £35m restoration project. However, a council financial report for the first quarter of 2026-27 forecasts a £338,000 deficit due to what officials described as a "shortfall of trader income".

Council leader Nadine Peatfield told the BBC her cabinet would meet in October to discuss the next steps.

She said: "One of the things we will consider... is if the council are the best people to be involved in the day-to-day running of the Market Hall."

Asked about whether handing over the running of the market was a reflection of the council's job so far, Peatfield said it was "not a criticism of the team".

She added: "I'm talking about the council house as a whole because, I suffer this all the time, lots of councillors get frustrated with the slow moving processes of the council sometimes.

"We are a public body, we have to go jump through more hoops than other organisations. We have to do all of the checks and balances and we are under resourced in some departments like property, procurement and contracts and things like that, which do slow us down.

"So, when I said that I'm not for one second pointing the finger at the team that run the Market Hall on a day-to-day basis in there."

An internal review, announced in February, is examining the market's commercial performance following criticism of the mix of stalls and levels of footfall.

Peatfield said there were no plans to publish the full review as the Labour-led council was "working through the findings".

"We don't do a review and then publish it," she added. "It's for us to be able to work through the findings of review and that's what we're doing right now."

However, Peatfield said the council was looking at "tinkering opening hours" and reducing opening hours on a Thursday evening.

She added a lot had been happening "behind the scenes" in terms of operational changes making it easier to get new stallholders in.

"[These are ]really technical and boring things that we weren't doing well enough, but that we're working on and improving on constantly," she added.

Reform UK's Derbyshire County Council leader Alan Graves said the market should be run by "proper business people".

"The Market Hall [has] not worked, and it's not working - mainly because there's no footfall," he added.

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