{"id":91975,"date":"2025-02-04T17:39:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T17:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=91975"},"modified":"2025-02-06T16:36:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T16:36:50","slug":"if-it-rains-outside-it-rains-inside-stallholders-are-still-waiting-for-a-date-for-cardiff-market-repairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/04\/if-it-rains-outside-it-rains-inside-stallholders-are-still-waiting-for-a-date-for-cardiff-market-repairs\/","title":{"rendered":"‘If it rains outside, it rains inside’: Stallholders are still waiting for a date for Cardiff Market repairs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Traders are forced to ask customers to move to avoid getting wet, and use buckets and plastic wrap to protect their goods<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

RAIN has been dripping through Cardiff Market’s aging roof for years, but traders still don’t know when repair work will start to fix it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardiff council said in 2023 that work on renovating the market would start last June but it could not confirm when the actual repairs would be completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, a spokesperson said that work had started last month and that the delay was due to the procurement process taking longer than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is like a game of Chinese Whispers,” said Mr Singh, who has also run a phone stall for 33 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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plan is to repair the glass roof, create a 70-seat communal eating space in the northern set of stalls, restore some outdated features and fix its Victorian plumbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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