Traders on Hull wholesale market are readying themselves to move to a new site after more than £3.5 million of investment, ending almost 30 years of conjecture.
Eight wholesalers at the current premises on Humber Street are to relocate to Priory Market from November 5 with an official opening date of November 16.
The move will make way for much-needed regeneration in the Marina area. The Priory Market site is five miles from the current market’s location.
The new premises are purpose-built, state-of-the-art warehouse units, with each trader having had first-hand involvement in designing their own buildings and specifications.
ispace, who have facilitated the move and development of the new fruit market, appointed Hull-based contractors Houltons, who began work in February, after a competitive tender process.
Mike Nellist of Nellist & Co, who is also chairman of the Hull Fruits & Flower Management Company, told freshinfo: “It’s definitely a move for the better. The old market was very old and Victorian, like the old Covent Garden Market.
“It is sad in one aspect as there’s a lot of history there, but it is old and dilapidated and the new market is state-of-the-art. Our customers have been very positive, as the new site is right by the road and it’s going to be great for deliveries, as well as looking good.”
The move, which ends years of uncertainty, will see the transfer of the traders’ existing buildings into the land assembly project being undertaken by Hull Forward, the Economic Development Company for Hull, in readiness for the redevelopment of the Fruit Market Strategic Redevelopment Area.
