Funding secured for new outdoor market

Oldham is due to get a new outdoor market space on George Square, the council has confirmed.

The local authority pledged £2m to create a new home for the Tommyfield Outdoor Market, which takes place every Saturday.

The project will ‘radically transform’ George Square, a small plot of communal space between Spindles Shopping Centre and the police station, according to the council.

It’s ‘Part Two’ of a wider scheme to revive Oldham’s markets, with Tommyfield’s indoor traders due to move over to their new venue at the Spindles Shopping Centre by summer this year.

Oldham council boss Arooj Shah confirmed the spending pledge at a cabinet meeting on Monday, March 24.

Half the funding will come from a £20m pot of new government money awarded to the borough earlier this year, while an additional £1m will come out of Oldham’s capital spending.

A report for the meeting noted the site will also host the ‘hugely popular Saturday Asian Market which helps to attract shoppers from across the North of England’ and could provide a space for other cultural events.

Tommyfield’s outdoor market won’t close down until the new site is ready, which is estimated to be ‘late 2025’.

Tommyfield was once considered a ‘shopping destination’ with locals anecdotally describing ‘bus loads of visitors from far and wide’ piling into the town on the weekends several decades ago.

But recently markets across the UK have struggled to maintain footfall.

The plans are hailed by some traders and residents as a ‘new era’ for both the indoor and outdoor markets.

But others are less convinced.

One resident questioned why the outdoor market was being placed so far away from the indoor one, remarking: “I’m not convinced it’s the right place for a market, I wouldn’t walk down to access it.”

The current site of the outdoor Tommyfield market was originally tipped to become the new Eton Star Academy, a sixth form that would help kids from ‘underpriveleged’ backgrounds get into top universities.

But these plans are currently on hold as the government reviews its policy on opening new ‘free schools’.

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