Seeing £5m market hall empty is 'heart-wrenching'

The sight of a market hall standing empty for months after a £5m refurbishment is "heart-wrenching" to one former trader there.

Diane Smith said she could not understand why Teignbridge District Council had not got an operator for Market Hall in Newton Abbot in place after the £5m refit was finished in June.

The Liberal Democrat deputy leader of the council said it was crucial for the council to carry out due diligence and operators wanted to wait until work was finished before doing any deal.

The market will not be open until spring 2027 at the earliest and the Independent group on the council won a vote on Thursday to demand a full debate of what has happened which will take place in January.

Diane Smith has been a market trader in Newton Abbot for decades but has now moved her This and That business out to a shop on Queen Street.

She said: "It's a waste of money, a waste of time and a waste of resources because no-one in the trade was involved in anything.

"It's heart-wrenching - I can't go in there, I cry because I see everything they're doing is completely wrong."

The Market Hall, a Grade II-listed building, will have traders and food stalls when it does open.

The old market closed in October 2024 when work started on the refurbishment.

Some of the former stallholders have been operating out of the old Post Office site while the work has been carried out but one said communication with Teignbridge District Council had been poor.

Ali Fletcher, from The Gifty Quirk, said: "We don't know when it's opening other than it might be open next spring.

"We're sort of left not really knowing anything other than wait and see."

When work on Market Hall was completed in June, Teignbridge District Council said a new operator would be announced "within weeks".

But the council then announced on social media in October the "earliest we'll be ready to go will be in the spring".

Louise Cooke, the mayor of Newton Abbot, said members of Newton Abbot Town Council were just as frustrated as local businesses.

She said: "We've now been given a date of spring 2027 but we've been given dates before and nothing's happened and it's such a shame because it's such a beautiful building.

"The problem is - we've now missed the summer, we're going to miss the Christmas and that's sad."

A full debate will be held in January, after Teignbridge District Council members narrowly approved a motion brought by Jane Taylor, leader of the Independent Group, for a full discussion.

Taylor said: "A market hall without market traders is not a success story, it's a complete delivery failure.

She said it was "time for accountability" after the project saw "£5m spent and still no opening date".

Taylor had tried to get the council to discuss possible Christmas activities in Market Hall but was unsuccessful.

David Palethorpe, Liberal Democrat deputy leader at Teignbridge District Council, said the council had to take its time to get the right deal for council taxpayers.

He said: "We've taken a Grade II-listed building, it was deteriorating, we've upgraded it, it's now a fantastic venue.

"The important thing is that any operator, when we went out to ask for applications, quite rightly looked at it as it was then as a building site and did not want to commit themselves and their finances until such time as they've seen the building completed."

The £5m spent on Market Hall came from the government's Future High Street Funding.

Palethorpe said: "Our responsibility is to make decisions that deliver lasting benefits for Newton Abbot, not simply to meet an opening date or avoid criticism.

"The real failure would be to rush into an arrangement that doesn't work, simply to silence criticism today, and leave Newton Abbot paying the price tomorrow."

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