For more than 30 years, the Market Village, has been a cornerstone of the community.

By Jean Gray

The sudden closure of the walk-through Market Village in Stratford town centre and the devastating impact it has on around 60 local small businesses has led to united protest and demands for it to reopen from shocked political and community lead-
ers in the Borough.

For more than 30 years, the Market Village, formerly known as Inshops, has been a cornerstone of the community. It’s a place where local businesses have thrived and where residents have found affordable products that cater to their unique needs.

But that came to an abrupt end on Wednesday 10 January when, just after closing time, visitors from Stratford Market Properties Limited arrived to hand out letters from Director Ambroise Auguste, telling traders their shops were closing with immediate effect because the company was going into administration. All of the traders were up to date with their rent.

“It was shocking and shameful,” said Farzana Rasheed, Manager of Fantas Tattoo and Piercing, who has been working in the Market Village for 19 years.

“We were given just a day or two to clear out our shop. Some businesses who had already closed for the day and gone home didn’t even receive the letter and turned up the next day to find themselves locked out,” she said.

A handful of traders, including Farzana Rasheed, found temporary space in the nearby Stratford Mall, a small cluster of businesses in another independent space inside the Stratford centre. Farzana was one of three traders who found space there.

“But all of us want to go back to the Market Village,” she said. “Normally we would have a long queue all day for our shop, but it’s now going very slowly.”

An online petition to save the market was launched by one of the traders, GT Spice Caribbean Takeaway. As Newham Voices went to press, it had attracted more than 5,000 signatures.

At the same time Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz and Stratford Ward Councillor Sabia Kamali were in crisis talks with the company Unex, who own the leasehold, to try to get the Village re-opened, although the Council has no jurisdiction over the site.

Earlier, Ms Fiaz in a letter to the administrators Cowgill asking for an urgent meeting to discuss the ‘ongoing operation’ of the Market Village, stressed the importance of supporting traders who are caught up in ‘a nightmare not of their own making’.

She argued that the market is an important provider of local jobs and is essential for thousands of local people who rely on the market for everyday goods, as well as a range of services for Newham’s diverse communities.

She said many traders stand to lose out on investments they made to improve their premises.

Local resident and Newham Voices columnist Mickey Ambrose has also written to the market’s owners calling for action to keep it open. He writes: “Many of these small businesses have been located at Market Village for over 30 years selling a wide range of items, and of course there are multicultural cafes. I can remember walking through Market Village to get my mobile phone repaired or to have a good old full English British fry up.”

“The closure of Wilko and now Market Village has had a significant effect on the local community as they are now unable to get certain items you cannot buy from main retailers. “Market Village was a family community where everyone knew each other. It’s such a shame, a real shame, and I hope something can be done.”

The site’s landlord, Unex Group Holdings Limited, told the BBC it was “as shocked as the stallholders to hear of Stratford Market Village’s closure”.

Managing director Adrian Morris said that the lease with Stratford Market Properties Limited remained in place. He said he was working with the company to try to resolve issues with a view to “hopefully enabling the stallholders back into occupation”.

You can view and sign the petition online at: www.change.org/p/urge-unex-to-reopen-strat-ford-market-village

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