Blackpool’s Bonny Street Market traders prepare for one final season of work before they shut up shop for good

“Hopefully we’re going to enjoy this last year, play it out, reduce the stock and that’s it.”

Market traders who have spent decades of their lives running stalls in Blackpool have one final year at the market before they have to close up for good.

Traders at Bonny Street Market hope to make their final few months at Blackpool’s iconic markets memorable but more importantly, to figure out what they’ll do after. The lease on the site of the market was terminated by the council at the end of last year because the land was earmarked for the development of the £300m Blackpool Central leisure development.

At that time, traders told to LancsLive how they were told to pack up their stall within weeks, an “abrupt” and “sudden” end to their livelihoods. But in February, they were given hope as Blackpool Council reopened discussions with the market’s operator and now says it can remain open until the end of this summer.

Today (April 14) traders headed back to their stalls to restock and reopen for one last season and as they plan for the end, they told us what the past few months have been like for them. Officially, the stalls will operate from Friday April 15 but traders have spent the day restocking and welcoming back their customers for the season.

Lynne Humphries has worked on the markets since they first opened in 1985. Being out in the open, working seven days most weeks has been her favourite part of the market.

“I couldn’t imagine working inside, even in the rain you put your wellies on. I see my work more than I see my grandkids because you’re here more and, in the summer, you see more of here than you do of home,” Lynne said.

“It was like an empty feeling [to close], it was like it wasn’t real because we didn’t get forewarned, it was three weeks or something like that- we all knew it was coming and we all knew there was going to be this big thing but we just thought that we’d have got more time. It’s a lot of stuff to get rid of.

“We’ve just got to get on with it now haven’t we, one season, we all know.”

Ndongo Ngom moved to Blackpool to work at Bonny Street Market. He has worked at markets for years but set up in Bonny Street around six years ago. Despite the uncertainty of his own future, Ndongo is still keeping his spirits up.

“If we have an opportunity for another place where we can have the same market or the same stall we’d appreciate it. This is our life this market, if it closes, we have to go elsewhere which is definitely a problem at the moment,” He said.

“I used to live in Manchester and because of this market I moved to Blackpool. Now when this market closes, it changes everything for me. I have to survive anyhow, find another market, or go up and down the UK to find another job because I have to support [my family].

“I always think positively I always say that the next step is the best, that’s my way of life.”

Diana Hall, has run a women’s lingerie stall for over 20 years. She received the news of the initial closure while she was on holiday, the only time of the year she gets off.

“We had to come back off holiday because we were given four weeks notice, then we came, started taking stuff back out and then we got told we have another year, so went back off holiday,” She said.

“We threw all the fixtures and fittings away because we didn’t think we’d be coming back on. All the stock, we just got rid of it, the lights, everything just went. You work seven days a week for seven months and a lot of them go away for winter – we’ve not.”

Diana hopes to use the next remaining months to get rid of her stock but says she has no idea what will come next for her once the season is up.

“The amount of customers that have been coming and you tell them we might be shutting, they’re devastated because that’s what they come to Blackpool for a lot of them.”

Mark runs the toy shop at the front of the market, the first stall that most will see as they head in. He says it was not knowing they would be closing so soon that had affected traders like himself and now, they can all plan the final few months together.

“They’ve granted us another year so that’s where we are, we’ve got the last season but at least we know it’s the last season,” he said.

“The way things are and the current climate, you’re buying for the next year because stocks are going dearer, so you’re preparing yourself for the year ahead. We’d all prepared ourselves for this year so we were all ready to go, if we knew last year was the last year we would have been alright.

“Hopefully we’re going to enjoy this last year, play it out, reduce the stock and that’s it.”

Abdul Samad Hashemi has worked with his family at the stalls for over 20 years. His wife works on a clothes and bags stand while he runs a burger van, popular with the locals.

“We have to think about getting rid of our stock and then if we can buy anymore stock. We used to buy a lot of stock and then you get the business, if you don’t buy the stock, you don’t get it anymore,” Abdul said.

“I like working at Bonny Street because I’ve worked here for nearly 20 years. Now it’s like the middle of nowhere and end of the season so we don’t know where we’re going. We tried to do something like go somewhere else but I don’t know – if I go off by myself to rent a shop it’s not going to be worth it.”

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