Hunt for firms to save town mart
CARMARTHENSHIRE Council is actively looking for a business to save the county’s biggest mart, which has not operated for months.
The council is offering the lease of Carmarthen Mart, located at Nantyci Showground on the outskirts of the town, to a company by way of an open-market tender.
The future of the mart has been shrouded in doubt since last summer, when it was operated by Bob Jones, Prytherch and Co Marts Ltd (BJP Marts), who ran the site for many years.
However, that lease agreement has expired, leaving many farmers in West Wales in the dark about the mart’s future.
Having been closed for several months, doubts were raised about whether it would ever reopen, or whether the large site off the A40 two miles west of Carmarthen would be used for another purpose.
Carmarthen Mart had been located in the town centre, at Fair Lane, for more than a century until it relocated out of town two decades ago. Its former site is now home to St Catherine’s Walk shopping centre, which opened in 2010.
Speaking last September, local farmer Brian Walters, a former vicepresident of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, said there was “very little information” about the long-term prospects of the mart.
He said: “That livestock centre is the best in West Wales and opened in 2001 after the foot and mouth outbreak. To see it sitting empty is not good at all.”
However, the council, which owns the land, is now hoping to secure a new future for Carmarthen Mart, which it describes as “a traditional and prominent fixture in Carmarthenshire’s vibrant agricultural industry”, by attracting a new business to take it over.
The lease would include a purpose-built modern building with two auction rings and livestock pens for cattle, sheep and pigs.
It also boasts a café area, a bar, kitchen facilities, loading areas, wash-down facilities, a reception and office, and ten business units which are occupied by agricultural companies. Meanwhile, the council’s Rural Business Development Centre could also be included as part of the lease agreement.
Describing it as an “exciting opportunity”, the council has said that it wants to attract a company which can create and run a “progressive and forward-looking regional livestock market”, one which would hold regular livestock auctions, as well as managing the business units at the site and the staging of various catering functions.
“We are absolutely committed to supporting Carmarthenshire’s farming community and rural economy and recognise the important role the mart has to play in that,” said David Jenkins, Carmarthenshire Council’s executive board member for resources.
“This is an exciting opportunity; as well as operating this busy mart, we hope to attract applicants that will also look at wider opportunities to create a viable and sustainable enterprise. We very much look forward to seeing the mart operating again.”
Interested parties are asked to contact the council by emailing estates@ carmarthenshire.gov.uk or by visiting its website.