‘If this shuts, I’m gone. It’s gutting – this is all I’ve done since school’
Caerphilly traders are worried about their future after the council bought the town’s indoor market with plans to turn it into offices and flats. Lucy John reports
“THIS business is my livelihood, it pays my mortgage and it’s the only job I’ve got.”
These are the words of Leigh Richards, who owns shoe repair stall The Shoe Box at Caerphilly Indoor Market.
Just a few days earlier, the 59-year-old found out the council wants to demolish the near-100-year-old building in a bid to turn it into flats and offices.
“We had a feeling something was up, but when we were actually told, it was a shock,” he said.
“It made me feel a bit sick.” Leigh, from Pontypridd, has been repairing shoes in Caerphilly for 43 years. He said if the plan goes ahead as outlined, it would see him packing up his tool kit for good.
Leigh said: “There’s no way we can afford to trade in a town centre shop, the rates are too high.
“There’s talk from the council about possibly putting us somewhere in shipping containers, but try moving my equipment, it’s about a ton in weight.
“If this does shut, I’m gone. I wouldn’t do this again and it’s gutting. I’m not sure what I’d do next as this is all I’ve done since I left school, but I’m also too young to retire.”
The plans are part of the council’s ambitious £50m Caerphilly 2035 programme, which is set to transform the town centre over the next 15 years.
The strategy includes a boutique hotel, a leisure centre, a £30m station and a new visitor centre at the castle.
Work has already begun on several projects.
The new plans for the market will see the redevelopment of the entire building, as well as adjoining properties in Pentrebane Street.
The space will be repurposed to make way for office space and about 74 flats, the Echo understands.
However, the plans are a U-turn on the council’s Caerphilly Basin Masterplan approved in 2018. That included a blueprint to enhance the existing market into something akin to the recently revamped Newport Market.
The previous plans stated: “There is a need for significant refurbishment or redevelopment of the building itself, and a rebranding and marketing exercise which could be based on a specific theme or niche (for example artisan products, vintage clothes, vinyl, etc) in order to emulate the success of markets elsewhere.”
The council has enthusiastically described its 2022 vision as an “exciting new multi-million-pound redevelopment scheme”, but most traders at the indoor market appear to have been left worrying about their future.
Stephanie Lennon owns traditional sweet shop Sweet Shack at the market.
She took the business over about a year ago and said it had helped her overcome anxiety and depression.
This news, she said, has left her and other traders in limbo.
She said: “I suffer from depression and when the lockdown hit I realised my life hadn’t changed, so my step-father bought this for me. Later I took over as the official owner when I made enough to buy it off him. It gets me out of the house and seeing people so I have a life for myself. I found out it was closing when the council came on Thursday [June 9].
“I heard they were coming the week before that, so I didn’t buy stock in case we were going to get shut down [at short notice], so now I’m running low. I was gutted when I heard the news, but it’s not just that – we’re still in limbo. We still have no timeline or anything.”
Stephanie said aside from owning her own business at the site, there were still plenty of other reasons why the news upset her.
Not only does the building bring her past childhood memories, she would also miss the traders she works alongside, who have become her close friends.
“With my depression and anxiety, I