Retail markets can be run better as commercial businesses, according to a sector expert.
Sue Burgess, manager of Leeds Kirkgate Market, told delegates at the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA) conference in Harrogate this week that privately owned markets have a number of advantages over local council-run spaces. Ownership of UK markets is split around 50:50 between the two models.
She said: “We are a business and we think like a business, we can access significant investment and compete on a level playing field with our competitors in commercial retail.”
But Bolton markets’ boss Malcolm Veigas told FPJ that business models needed to be sustainable in the long term. “If you predicate a market on just how much income it’s going to get back, it’s not going to work,” he said. “A market is much more than its financial return and you need a wider model.”
NABMA policy development manager Krys Zasada said: “I do not care who runs markets as long as they are well run.”
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