The UK’s newest wholesale market opened for business on Monday, as Western International’s tenants made the short trip to their new site.
It was all hands to the pump, as tenants moved their businesses a few hundred metres from the old site into the brand new, purpose-built 130,000sqft market in Southall, West London. The site has 100 trading units, and also houses a bank, two cafés, a newsagent and office space.
Several customers lent their vehicles and time to help traders make the switch, and London Borough of Hounslow Council staff were on hand, brooms at the ready, to ensure that the site was spotless in time for the first customers early on Monday morning.
While most of the companies that had taken up space on the new market moved in on schedule, there were inevitable teething problems, with contractors failing to finish some work, and phone lines and electricity not in place for a number of traders.
George Bray, chairman of Western International Market Tenants’ Association (WIMTA), told freshinfo: “On the first day in any new environment, things are different and there will be issues. Some people don’t like change, but the feedback generally from both customers and traders has been positive.
“Some work has not been finished on time, but that was largely down to the contractors being used by individual tenants. However much we planned this, we expected problems during the initial stages of the move, so we are not surprised.”
Gill White of Western Banana Centre, vice-chairman of WIMTA, said: “Personally, the move went very well. We had access to the warehouse well in advance and spent a lot of time planning the move. Some tenants’ units were not completed in time, and they have had to deal with that, but really it was down to each individual tenant.”
Andrew Owen of Owen Owen, a member of the WIMTA executive, said he would ideally have liked a couple more weeks before moving, but said that his company had made the transition reasonably smoothly.
Talking to freshinfo as his office flitted in and out of darkness as the sensor lights had an opening day attack of the nerves, Owen said: “Once we have got everything sorted out, it’s going to be good. The facilities are far better, we hadn’t invested in the old site and it had passed its lifespan. This is new and it’s exciting.”
Bray said: “This has been 14 years in the coming and I am very pleased and proud to see the market finished and open.
“Standing in my old stand on Saturday, I couldn’t help wondering how we had managed to continue trading from the old site for all that time - I’m sure I wasn’t alone.”
Owen agreed, and said the set-up of the new market, which sees all wholesalers in one long hall, will help trade. “Being in one building will benefit us; before there were two separate markets. I’ve seen several people today that I’ve never seen before.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the customers have been positive. People are naturally resistant to change, but once forced to confront it, they will find there are a lot more positives than negatives here.”
David Street of Knight & Rawlings, who was one of the last traders to secure a unit through a late tender, said: “The first day has been quite busy; we have had a few problems because the unit is not finished, but we have seen more people than normal.
“I think the market is going to be brilliant and the facilities are a big improvement; but new things always take time.”
