Market to rescue city heritage in new site

HISTORIC SECTIONS of Bradford’s old Kirkgate Market will be restored and installed at the site of the new Darley Street Market.

The new three-storey market, and a public square, will be built on the site of the former Marks & Spencer building on Darley Street once that building is demolished.

A planning application for the scheme was approved last year.

But now a new application, calling for amendments to the already approved scheme, has been submitted to planners.

The most eye catching change is a decision to incorporate part of Bradford’s market history in the new market.

The city’s Victorian Kirkgate Market was demolished in 1973 to make way for the Kirkgate Shopping Centre – opposite the site of the new market.

The decision to demolish the grand building is still, nearly five decades later, considered hugely controversial.

Parts of the building were retained after the demolition and placed in storage, and the amendment to the Darley Street Market application would see the historic gates to the Kirkgate Market refurbished and installed at the new market site.

The £21m market is seen as one of the main regeneration projects in Bradford city centre. The building will replace the city’s existing markets. Once it opens, the current Kirkgate Market will close, as will the Oastler Market in the Top of Town area.

Oastler Market will be demolished to make way for a ‘city village’ residential development.

Darley Street Market would feature food and non food stalls, as well as hot food vendors, indoor and outdoor dining areas and a performance stage.

There will also be a public square, where the former Burton building stands.

The market was due to open in 2022, although it is as yet unclear how the Covid 19 pandemic has affected this timetable.