{"id":236639,"date":"2025-07-04T05:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T05:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/236639\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T05:45:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T05:45:16","slug":"we-dont-know-how-the-future-will-turn-out-traders-left-fearful-at-one-of-greater-manchesters-tiniest-market-halls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/236639\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We don\u2019t know how the future will turn out’: Traders left fearful at one of Greater Manchester\u2019s tiniest market halls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Customers and traders in Little Lever have fears for the future as ‘community hub’ goes up for auctionLenny Boardman and Leanne Love from Lenny’s Cafe<\/p>\n

One of the smallest \u2018old style\u2019 market venues in Greater Manchester is facing an uncertain future.<\/p>\n

The tiny village market hall on the outskirts of Bolton<\/a>, will be auctioned off next week.<\/p>\n

The Little Lever Market Hall \u2013 home to a handful of traditional stalls and an award-winning caf\u00e9 \u2013 is being sold in an online auction on Tuesday, with a guide price of \u00a3300,000.<\/p>\n

It is a move which has caused uncertainty among the traders and unease from customers, many of whom have been shopping there for decades and fear it may close in its current form.<\/p>\n

‘There’s no certainty for us’<\/p>\n

The Local Democracy Reporting Service visited Little Lever market hall to talk to shoppers and traders about future of the building and what the market means to them.<\/p>\n

Lenny\u2019s Cafe, which occupies the front of the market hall, is buzzing with customers when we visited this week.<\/p>\n

Lenny Boardman, 40, has run the business for nine years, his hard-work paying off with a recent accolade of \u2018best caf\u00e9 in Bolton\u2019. However, he said the sale process has left him \u2018uncertain of the future\u2019.<\/p>\n

Little Lever market hall<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe\u2019ve been aware its been up for sale for a while but it came into focus when the \u2018for auction\u2019 signs went up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just no certainty for us, none of us even have leases in place because of this so I can\u2019t be sure of even the short term future for the business and the people I employ.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got dozens of regulars, some of them here every day we\u2019re open and it\u2019s so important to a lot of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur worry is if someone comes in with a lot of money, buys the building and knocks it down to build flats. When a village like this loses somewhere like here \u2013 that\u2019s it, it\u2019s gone for good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting at the cafe\u2019s \u2018table one\u2019, her usual spot next to the counter, is Lynn Dingley, 77. She has lived in the village all her life as is currently recovering her health after having two strokes.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThis place means everything to me. I come here every day apart from Sunday, I have the special for my lunch then I only need a sandwich for tea.<\/p>\n

Lynn Dingley and Terry Horrocks are daily visitors to the market hall<\/p>\n

\u201cI meet my friends here, my mobility’s not very good so I can\u2019t get very far. I also shop at the stalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it closes I wouldn\u2019t be going out as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry Horrocks, 79, said: “I\u2019m here every day, it\u2019s a good atmosphere and it\u2019s a place of laughter and friendship.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou meet people here, otherwise you\u2019re stuck at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hazel Parker, 66, who has just retired and lives in Little Lever, said: \u201cI\u2019ve been coming here for 36 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here at least once a week. I buy all my cards here \u2013 it\u2019s a brilliant stall. I also using the sewing lady and Michaela who runs the florist and sells perfume.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a hub for everybody in the village. It gives a centrality to the village and is a meeting place for a huge number who make new friends.<\/p>\n

Hazel Parker called the hall a ‘community hub’<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a very sad day for our community if we were to lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For one stallholder, Tomi Rasanmi, this week is her last at the hall as she is relocating to a nearby shop near the village square as a result of the uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Tomi, who runs Tiam Alteration & Dry Cleaning, was in the middle of a live fitting, adjusting a prom dress for a teenager during our visit.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI love being here among the other traders and I have been happy with my location in the market hall.<\/p>\n

Tomi Rasanmi is relocating her business this week<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I cannot operate with the uncertainty so I had to make the decision to go elsewhere. I could not leave myself in the position of possibly having to move out with a month\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I will be moving from Tuesday, July 8.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Michaela Brown, who runs Floral Sense at the market hall, selling fresh cut and dried flowers, along with perfumes and gifts, was another to be fearful of the uncertainty.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThere\u2019s a strong sense of community among the customers and other businesses here. But the place being put up for sale has been unsettling and we don\u2019t really know how the future will turn out.<\/p>\n

Michaela Brown is a stallholder at Little Lever market hall<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in limbo at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hall, described by one shopper as \u2018the heartbeat of the village\u2019, is being auctioned on Tuesday, July 8. Marketing material for the property mentions it ‘may be suitable for sympathetic development for apartments subject to the necessary consents\u2019.<\/p>\n

It states: \u201cWell-known market hall located in a prominent main road position in Little Lever. The property comprises accommodation over ground floor level set up as a market hall with stall areas including a bakery and caf\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sales material states it generates a gross income circa \u00a328,000 a year with the potential of \u00a350,000 if fully let.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Customers and traders in Little Lever have fears for the future as ‘community hub’ goes up for auctionLenny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[279,748,393,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-236639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-bolton","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114793383659353105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}