Urmston Market

Urmston Market used to be a real treat to visit, when I was a child and teenager living miles away out of Urmston.
My parents and I used to travel into Urmston just to visit the market, and when I was a child I believed that you could buy anything at Urmston Market, because it genuinely seemed like you could.
When I actually moved to live in Urmston 12 years ago, having the bustling market was one of things that helped me make the decision to move here, but things have changed now.
It’s a traditional market where it has covered stalls, and it used to a have real mix of items, and I used to buy lots of ex chainstore clothing and underwear from here. You could also buy curtains, bedding, there were many clothes stalls, fabric and craft stalls, picture and picture frames stalls, toy stalls, and the market seemed to be the central focus of Urmston. Sadly nowadays a lot of these stalls are gone.
The only things I can think of that you are guaranteed to get on the market these days (from the regular stallholders) are fruit and veg, flowers, books, and tights\socks, and some clothing. Other stallholders seem to change like the wind, and I would estimate that 30% of the stalls are empty.
It’s a difficult situation to resolve because the traders will probably say that the market is in this state because they haven’t got enough customers. But they haven’t got enough customers, because they don’t sell what you need so you have to go elsewhere.
It really makes me sad to see the market like this, and I hope that once the large Sainsburys opens nearby, and the town centre continues to be regenerated, traders and customers will both come back and the market will get busy again.
The market days are Tuesday and Saturday, and there used to be a Friday market as well, but I haven’t visited on a Friday for a good while and so I am unsure if its still on.

I went here today and one week before Christmas it was almost deserted. It is a real shame as it used to be really good.
I used to buy loads of stuff from here but don’t any more. Unlike a lot of markets that are owned by local authorities this one is privately owned.
I feel the owners have missed a heaven sent opportunity to increase trade whilst Urmston is having such a large rebuild going on. They could have encouraged shoppers back but have failed to do so.
it is on a bit of a downward spiral sadly, lots of the stall holders have gone, the ones left (well a lot of them anyway) seem disheartened, disinterested and almost without hope.
Today, I wanted to see if I could get a pair of cheap flat shoes. There was no one at the shoe stall, the guy was looking bored and I had to ask twice if I could try the shoe on (the answer please yourself didn’t inspire any desire to spend) Anyway, they were too tight. When I asked what else he had I was shown a pair of shoes that your great gran would be offended if you bought her!
We did buy a cheap watch for hubby to wear at his new school (he’s a teacher NOT a student!!), some cookie cutters (a weakness of mine) and some veg.
This COULD be a great market. That it isn’t is a real shame.

This is a fruit and veg market with a few other stalls that sell clothing and other household items however this is not very exciting and would not tempt the public to visit unless they had come for the fresh produce. On saturday morning you can buy some nice flowers both cut and for planting but overall the market has suffered due to the continued development work and frequent roadworks.