Simon Danczuk MP

Fighting for Rochdale, Littleborough and Milnrow

Rochdale's Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk, joined the hustle and bustle of market life this weekend by doing a shift with stall holders at Rochdale Exchange Market. As part of his ongoing campaign to strengthen Rochdale's town centre, he said that working on market stalls had reinforced his view that local traders could play a big role in leading Rochdale out of the recession and that they needed more support.

"Small businesses and market traders are the lifeblood of our town and their voice has been ignored for too long," he said. "I wanted to get firsthand insight into their business and role in the community. I was able to see for myself some of the challenges they face, but also really enjoyed the lively atmosphere and banter with the customers."

Rochdale was first granted a market in 1241 and Mr Danczuk said that hundreds of years of tradition was still valued by shoppers who saw the market as a focal point of the community.

"What struck me is the camaraderie and sense of community that exists among market traders - they really look out for each other, support each other and have a very strong passion for market life," he explained. "We mustn't forget how important a market is in bringing people together, you get all walks of life shopping there and the traders really develop strong relationships with their customers that you don't get in supermarkets."

He added that he'd spent the day working on a number of different stalls.

"I worked on Jeff's fruit and veg stall, Martin's electronics stall, Peter's confectionary stall and Jenny's clothes stall - though I don't think any one of them would give me a job!" he said. "I spent too much time chatting to customers and other traders. I used the day as an opportunity to find out what people thought about how to immediately improve the town centre and the market."

Customers were only too willing to offer suggestions for immediate action to get our town centre going again, he explained.

"People were dismissive of the 'free from three' parking idea, saying it would do little to encourage shoppers into the centre. They argued that two hours free parking at any time would be a much better solution. Some suggested having the market relocated next to the town hall square or on the Butts, they said an outdoor market would be much more accessible and popular.

"One trader - who has worked Rochdale market for over 50 years - said the 'f' word was key to improving the market - 'f' for 'food', more food stalls. He explained that people wanted to be able to buy everything they needed in one trip to the market, so a butchers and fishmongers would be popular. When I asked him what was required to get such traders on the market he said rents had to be subsidised to attract them. Other traders agreed that a wider variety of stalls were needed. The enclosed nature of the market was also mentioned as an issue. Boots have shut their doors onto the market and most of the electronic doors alongside the market are now kept locked, disconnecting the market from the rest of the Exchange Shopping Centre."

A customer keen to share her views was Bridget Mead, secretary of Rochdale Pensioners Association. "I'd like our council to do something about the town centre," she said. "We need to fill the empty shops and we need more variety. In Bury there's a beautiful fish market and cooked meats counter. You can shop there all day. In Rochdale there are too many clothes shops. We need a better choice."

The need to get a retailer into the old Littlewoods store was also mentioned as a priority to help increase people coming onto the market. "All traders and shoppers agreed that more needed to be done to immediately increase the 'footfall' in the town centre," Mr Danczuk concluded. "The general view was that more and more people were going out to Bury to shop and that the situation in Rochdale was becoming unsustainable."

Reflecting on his visit, he said he was more convinced than ever that Rochdale needed a bottom up strategy to develop its town centre. "Instead of ignoring small businesses and focusing solely on white elephant schemes at Kingsway and the like we need to build up our small business base much more. Bury has been very effective at doing this and that's why their economy is stronger than ours. You should never underestimate markets as a launch pad for businesses. After all, Marks and Spencer's started life as a market stall on Leeds Kirkgate market."