With some 34 occupied units and a bustling market at 4am, you’d be forgiven for wondering if you had just walked into a fruit and vegetable time warp when you turn up at Bradford’s St James’s Wholesale Market.
Just like in the good old days, units on the market are still hankered after like gold dust and a real community spirit fills the covered trading hall, be it through bellowing traders or the noise of pallets being loaded into trucks.
But at the freshly painted and renovated market, diversity is the key in every way. This is a wholesale market that has moved with the times by following what its customers want, in an area where the independent is still king and the foodservice offer is hitting off like anywhere else. It is no secret that the city is one of the ethnically diverse places to be in the UK, with a large Asian and Chinese community. Many residents are still adamant about shopping at their local greengrocers and corner shops, not because they want to support the local economy, but because these outlets still offer the community a relevant fresh food offer.
“We deal with all different kinds of customers on this market and there is a very multicultural mix,” says P&P King & Co’s Paul King, who along with his father Peter contributes to the traditional family-orientated wholesale vibe and tight-knit atmosphere that some wholesale markets have lost along the way. “Everyone gets on really well and there are so many different products on this market to choose from,” he continues. “There aren’t many wholesale markets in the UK that are full, but we are definitely still in demand; people always come back to this market.”
“I have seen 40 years on this market,” his father Peter adds. “And every day you learn something different. You have to keep moving with the times.”
Destination anywhere
The vibrant mix of trade in the Bradford area has certainly contributed to St James’s longevity but, from talking to the traders, it seems that the real secret to their success is moving with the surrounding community and listening to their customers.
“You have got to provide what the customer wants, not what you want to supply -the customer leads,” says Tim Kershaw, sales and procurement director for Burbank. “The more profit you create for your customer, the more demand you receive. There has been a big change in the last 20 years, but Asian retailers have been our main clients. St James’s is a little like New Spitalfields in the way that it has evolved with the surrounding trade.”
In another nod to the past, the market still sees the majority of its trade come through St James’s gates, although many have thrown in the distribution and telesales offer as well.
“We are still getting a good trade from retail businesses and catering is up, so we have a good mix and that’s magic,” says Kershaw. “It keeps you busy all day, with retailers using the market from 4am to 6am, then caterers until 11am, followed by distribution orders coming through on the phone until well after midday.”
One trend that has taken shape is the introduction of greengrocers on wheels, albeit giving the independent retailers a run for their money. “The small corner shops are taking a hit from greengrocer vans going from door to door,” says AR Butt’s Zafar Butt. “There is a lot of unrest about it and you can see their point, as it costs £10 a year for a licence to sell from a mobile and it’s £3,000 for a shop. I am pro-retail, but the men in the vans are also good customers. There has to be competition for the game to go forward.”
Farm shops have also seen a resurgence around the outskirts of Bradford and local production has a following like most other places in the UK.
“The wholesale market here has always taken in a lot of local vegetables; there are a lot of growers in Yorkshire and I still deal with the same growing families that my grandfather did,” says Simon Bailey, seventh generation of firm Bailey’s Wholesale Fruit Distributors Ltd. “There has been a big growth in tomatoes on the vine in the UK and customers will always go for the home-grown tomatoes first. We get a lot of tomatoes from the Selby and Hull area. The trend is for different varieties of tomatoes with taste. East Yorkshire on-the-vine cherry tomatoes are really successful. We work with the growers to make sure that they are growing what the customer wants. They call us for advice, but we have had that for a long time.
“There are very big growers in the area, but we tend to deal with the smaller, family-orientated firms - the supermarkets keep all the large growers busy. The smaller producers need us and from Liverpool to Hull, we have probably got around 250 growers on our books.”
At the dark end of the street
There are the usual grumbles and gripes on the market about the council, but compared to most wholesale markets in the UK, Bradford Metropolitan District Council seems to be playing the role of the supportive landlord. Bradford is a central location for distribution, being a similar distance from both London and Scotland.
At Bradford’s market, regular tenants’ association meetings and day-to-day contact with on-site superintendent Mel Williams has meant a relatively smooth-running ship. Using pooled money from proximity charges, the market has been refurbished and a recycling centre has been created.
“When I first started working here five and a half years ago, all the waste from the market was going into landfill,” explains Williams. “The cost was through the roof; we were getting charged £80 a tonne, so we started to recycle the cardboard. We now have three baling machines on site and instead of paying for landfill, we make £40,000 from the sale of the recycled product and £10,000 from the plastic we recycle. All the market’s green waste is used to make fertiliser.”
St James’s Market now sends only a small amount of waste to landfill and any money harvested in the recycling process gets ploughed straight back into the market’s facilities. What’s more, a new membership scheme was introduced about two years ago, which charges customers a nominal fee for entry into the market. “The council meets with the tenants to decide what the money gets spent on,” says the superintendent. “So far, the roof has been refurbished and the road around the market has been resurfaced, so it is to the advantage of the customers as well.”
That’s not to say that there isn’t the occasional thundercloud over the market; the wholesalers at Bradford like a moan like any others. The recession took its toll as it did elsewhere in the country, rogue companies have been allowed to operate on the market and the advent of the discounters caused problems for a while.
“Aldi selling various fruit and vegetables for 49p hit us, but we worked hard to beat it,” says Paul King, insisting that everyone still needs to eat. “There has only been one company that has fallen out of the market during the recession and I wouldn’t have linked that directly to the downturn in the economy.
“The fruit and vegetable trade has come out the other side and the future is bright. This is mostly due to the market being Asian retailer-orientated, but we also have a good trade out of town, with interest in farm shops and the likes increasing. The catering trade has been up and down and we have found it hard, but it is looking up again.”
Credit control is another recurring problem in the market and many wholesalers believe that the UK fruit and vegetable industry should unite to cut bad creditors out of the game.
“Business is good, but you have to give credit and we have lost a lot of money through customers just not paying,” says Butt. “This year, we have been much firmer with our customers and try not to do things on the tick. We can only take the hit so many times. Our suppliers need the money up front and so do we.”
But as many will appreciate, the credit situation requires a delicate balancing act and it’s a strong wholesaler who can turn away a potential customer, especially given the effects of the recent economic climate.
“There should be a tighter control on credit,” says Graham Hallas, managing director of J Rastrick Ltd. “All wholesale markets in the UK should share information so everyone has more control and can make an informed decision on who to serve.”
For a market facility built in the 1970s, St James’s is serving its wholesalers well, although traders do complain about the lack of space available. “At the time when the market was built, generally porters did not have cars and there was no massive trucks - it was built to yesterday’s specifications,” says Williams.
“Basically, it is too small and this issue causes 60 per cent of the disputes on the market. Ideally, I would like to see the market relocated to a warehouse complex that is twice as big. This must be prime land for redevelopment and we need to be looking forward.
“This market makes my department the only area making a decent profit in the council. It brings prestige to Bradford and there is not one empty stall on here. Our footfall is up five per cent on last year.”
PRODUCT WATCH WITH BURBANK
By Tim Kershaw
• Mixed wild mushrooms are doing very well with the chefs and just this week I have taken on a smaller pack with shiitake, oyster, enoki, shimeji and shiro mushrooms, produced by the Livesey Brothers, based in Leicestershire. We sell 700 boxes a week of the larger boxes of wild mushrooms, so it is a very consistent trade.
• Ready-to-eat mangoes and avocados bring in a premium and customers come back again and again because we can guarantee the quality. It can be the difference between £4 and £12 a box, so it really adds value to the product. Niche vegetables such as globe artichokes and yellow courgettes have built up a following over the years, and new and exciting offers such as apple aubergines (sometimes called pea aubergines) are stirring up interest.
• We now bring in hundreds of boxes of micro cresses a week from the Netherlands, where three years ago it was probably around 10. Chefs love them because they have a 10-day shelf life and continue to grow.
• South African mini pineapples have caused quite a stir and are doing well, as are fresh Brazilian figs -people don’t appreciate how long it takes to get them here, but chefs will pay the price for a perfect product.
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