Back in 2019, the future of Goole’s Victorian Market Hall was looking increasing bleak. It was costing Goole Town Council more than £1,000 per month to operate the market and the fabric of the building was in an increasingly poor state of repair. As a result, the market closed and the building was handed back to East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Thankfully, a golden opportunity arrived later that same year when Goole was invited to apply for a share of the Government’s Town Deal funding and the Market Hall became central to the Goole Town Deal Board’s plans to reinvigorate the town centre. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government gave the Board an early funding allocation of £750,000 and this came just at the right time for the Market Hall. A sum of £190,000 was used to carry out urgent repairs to the leaking roof, as well as a series of improvements inside, including the removal of the fixed stalls and levelling of the floor to create more space. This timely intervention halted the Market Hall’s long-running decline and made it possible for it to become a hub of activity once again. It has recently hosted a festive market as part of the town’s Christmas celebrations, as well as a variety of other events. With more Goole Town Deal funding on the way for the Market Hall, what does the future hold for this important part of the town’s heritage?

Built in 1896 to replace an earlier building that was destroyed by fire in 1891, the Market Hall is owned by East Riding of Yorkshire Council but was operated by Goole Town Council for many years. It sits within a Conservation Area and, although it’s not a listed building, it’s a prominent landmark within the town and widely viewed as an integral part of Goole’s rich heritage. For more than a century, the Market Hall was used by the people of Goole and the surrounding area as a shopping destination and a venue for other activities, such as roller-skating, before the installation of fixed stalls meant that this was no longer possible. Sadly, as people’s shopping habits changed, the market gradually fell into decline. 

Goole Market Hall in the early days

However, when Goole Civic Society launched a public campaign to save the Market Hall, it became clear that local people still feel very strongly about the building and want to see it preserved for community use.  In fact, 67 per cent of those who responded to the Civic Society’s ‘People’s Vote on the Future of Goole Market Hall’ expressed a wish to see the building used for both markets and other community events. This invaluable feedback helped to shape the Town Investment Plan that Goole submitted to the Government in a bid to secure a share of the Town Deal funding. The Goole Town Deal Board, which is made up of a wide variety of public, private and voluntary sector organisations with a shared commitment to regenerating Goole and growing its economy, sees the Market Hall as an ‘anchor destination’ and a key element of its wider plan to reinvigorate the town centre. 

Since it was announced that Goole had been successful in its bid for Town Deal funding, the Town Deal Board has been busy producing a detailed and comprehensive business case for each of the individual projects identified in its Town Investment Plan. The business cases must all be approved by the Government before work to deliver them can begin in 2023.

The business case for the Market Hall explains how the Goole Town Deal Board aims to transform the building into ‘the vibrant heart of Goole’s high street, significantly increasing footfall and spend in the town centre and engendering a strong sense of civic pride for Goole’s residents, business and visitors’.  The Market Hall would essentially become a central part of what’s considered to be Goole’s ‘cultural quarter’ by enhancing and creating better links between Junction Goole and the nearby Museum.

Although the Board considered the practicalities and economic potential of a wide range of different potential uses for the site, the business case suggests that the idea of turning it into a food hall and small events space would be the preferred option, stating: “Additional footfall into the town centre will be a central element of Goole’s recovery and regeneration. Goole needs a solution that maximises job creation, while also providing a thriving community space to attract people to the town centre…A bold solution is therefore required. The preferred option…will generate employment opportunities, and improve the town’s underdeveloped food and beverage scene, thereby significantly increasing economic activity within the town centre.”

Helen Hoult, Programme Manager for the Goole Town Deal, explained:  “In reaching this conclusion, the Town Deal Board looked closely at the success of other similar, albeit slightly larger sites, that are used in a similar way, such as Hull’s hugely popular Trinity Market. The proposal is that, in addition to some resident food enterprises around the outer walls, the central floor space offers flexibility for mixed use, with space for pop-up events like those at the recent Christmas Market, Jobs Fair and other events, like the roller-skating that Goole Town Council arranged with a grant from East Riding of Yorkshire Council.”

The total budget for the proposed improvements to the Market Hall is £3.8 million and it’s hoped that work could begin during the summer of 2023. As well as refurbishing the Market Hall itself, the business case explains that a third party operator will need to be appointed to run the site and that regular food stalls, as well as pop-up stalls and other events, will enable the venue to generate a income.

The business case states: “As a food hall with pop-up stalls and space for a wide and varied events programme, the Market Hall can become the social heart of Goole’s high street and an attractive space that celebrates the beauty of the building, while embracing its history as a commercial space. This scheme will foster economic prosperity through the creation of jobs and by attracting a significant number of new visitors to Goole’s town centre.”

A series of events that have taken place in the Market Hall in recent months have helped to reinforce the recommendations made in the business case for the Market Hall. In addition to the hugely successful Christmas market held there recently, it has also hosted a jobs fair, roller disco and been using as a filming location by Castaway, a Goole-based charity that believes in the power of the arts to transform the lives of adults and young people with learning and physical disabilities, autism and mental health conditions.

Margaret Hicks-Clarke, who is Chair of both Castaway and Goole Civic Society, explained: “Prior to Covid, Castaway would produce an annual show, performed over several days at Junction. The show being rehearsed for June 2020 was David Copperfield, a musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel by Deborah McAndrew. Earlier this year, still limited by Covid restrictions, Castaway embarked on an ambitious new venture to make the production a feature film, directed by Robert Readman and filmed by Katie Harriman of Fly Girl Films.”

Castaway’s co-general manager, Natalie Walker, continued: “We wanted to showcase the wonderful history that Goole has to offer, and the hidden gems that can be found. The Market Hall was the perfect place to capture the feel of Victorian England.”

Margaret added: “The Civic Society campaigned to save the Market Hall and is delighted it has received Town Deal funding.”