P h o t o B l o g

Saturday 29 November 2008

Market Hall Re-opens



It's open at last! After four and a half years, Ashton's Market Hall once again thronged with shoppers.

Every stall was occupied by traders and it seemed as if every inch of floor space was occupied by shoppers! The bareness of the modern decor seen in the preview photos a couple of weeks ago has been replaced by a mass of colour and life.

Although it is in effect a brand new state-of the art building constructed within the walls of the old market hall, the designers have tried to bring to it some of the character that the old market had. Instead of the broad, straight aisles found in modern market halls elsewhere in the region, Ashton's new market hall still has some nooks and crannies. There are curves and angles with some passages narrower than others. But the place has a feeling of lightness and openness brought about by the removal of the old internal walls and the design of the high vaulted roof with its rows of windows that let the light flood in.

There are two new web pages with more than 30 photos of the inside of the Market Hall to be found here.

I will post further photos of the market on this blog. Don't forget that you can see larger versions of the photos on this blog by clicking on them, although you will need to use your "back" button the return here.

See LiveSearch Birds Eye View of this location while the Market Hall was still being re-built.

7 comments:

  1. Great pictures of a great day!
    I notice however that the fascias all use the same sans serif typeface which takes away the 'individual' look and feel of the various traders.
    All that work developing your 'brand' and unable to use your logo.

    Trained in graphic design, it's quite a handicap being forced to have your name represented by a typeface more suited to sober financial institutions.

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  2. its great to see the old place opened again ,and though i dont live in ashton anymore ,i felt it justt like you lot did when it was burnt down .great [ics martin ,,,

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  3. I agree with Ashtonian about all the stalls having the same typeface for their stalls! However, from the photo I am amazed at how like the old interior it would seem to be!!! I hope it has some of the 'old' atmosphere as well! Good luck to all the traders and people of Ashton!!

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  4. In the early 1980s, I used to queue for freshly cut pork sandwiches (with all the trimmings) at a stall that was opposite the end of Pickles’s stall (the end that displayed comics) – can’t remember the name. Can anyone say if such a stall still exists in the new market?

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  5. I thought about going and taking a look yesterday but decided it would be too busy. From your photos it seems they've done a good job (so they should for the money yells someone in my ear).

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  6. Sign of the times in the restored Market Hall today, irate elderly gentleman on mobile to lost wife, How the hell do I know which end of the ****** place I am I can't get my ****** bearings. I do hope they found each other! My husband and self thought it looked great and glad to have it back up and running.Went straight to Gleaves for cough sweets!

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  7. To Son of Nomad, I remember the only stall opposite Pickles selling food was Hughes , they used to have an absolutely huge potato pie on Saturdays ,which was on display outside the shop. I was a regular at Pickles getting my Superman comics

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