Traders are forced to ask customers to move to avoid getting wet, and use buckets and plastic wrap to protect their goods
RAIN has been dripping through Cardiff Market’s aging roof for years, but traders still don’t know when work will start to fix it.
“It rains all over my fabrics. Every morning that it rains I have to cut metres off my fabric because of rain spots. We put plastic wrap over it now, but I’m too old to be moving it all every time there is a spot of rain,” said John Singh, who has run a fabric stall in the market for 28 years.
Cardiff council said investigation work into renovating the market started last summer but could not confirm when the actual repairs would take place.
“I would like to know just as much as the next person, it has gone from January to April to July now – but it is a 130-year-old building, it’s not going to be done in two minutes,” said Radie Beaverstock, owner of Scent Chak.
“It is like a game of Chinese Whispers,” said Mr Singh, who has also run a phone stall for 33 years.
The plan is to repair the glass roof, create a 70-seat communal eating space in the northern set of stalls, restore some outdated features and fix its Victorian plumbing.
“When it rains outside it rains inside, we will usually have to ask people to move seats when it rains, otherwise they just get wet,” said one food stall worker, who asked not to be named.
Another stall has had to put blue plastic wrap and three buckets on the roof of their stall in a bid to catch the rainfall.
“The drainpipes got blocked recently and sewage flooded all over the place, and the roof is beyond repair, it will be condemned in the next five years for sure,” said another shop worker.
Cardiff Council secured £6.5 million funding last year from the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns programme, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to preserve the grade 2-listed building.
Russel Milton, 53, manager of one of the market’s longest standing stalls, Kelly’s Records, said preserving the market’s unique and iconic traits was important.
“It is such a unique place, and whether it takes six months or 12 months is fine. It is expected to take so long anyway with it being a listed building and under the council, it is all about working out the logistics first,” said Russel.
“There hasn’t been any actual building work, but we have architects here all the time checking out the original structure of the building – what needs to go and what needs to stay,” he added.
“I just don’t want it to lose its personality,” said Mr Singh.
In 2023, Cardiff Council said the market would be open during the renovations, but that tenants would be relocated in phases on to The Hayes for up to 12 weeks.
“There are rumours that the market will either be shut completely for three months, or that the stalls could be put in containers like the Christmas markets outside,” said Libby Jarvis, employee at Scent Chak.
“I love the market, it is in my blood. When I went on holiday I missed coming here every day, and that won’t change from the renovations,” said Ms Beaverstock, who has worked in markets since she was three.
“When I was a little girl I would come here with my grandparents, and even now when you come here you can escape from the outside world, and be taken back in time,” she added.
Council Leader Huw Thomas said: “The market is one of Cardiff’s most important heritage buildings as well as a vital city centre space for small independent traders. Our restoration plans will preserve and protect that history for years to come.”
