MARKET traders in Chester have given plans for a new two-storey hall on land off Frodsham Street a mixed reception.

Sceptical stall holders, who were promised a new market hall in the original credit-crunched Northgate development funded by developers ING Real Estate, raised concerns over parking, loading and storage at the proposed new site.

Enthusiastic trader Matthew Elson, of Catherine K Nets said: “I think it’s a fantastic idea, it’s ideal.

“It’s a new market but it still keeps us in a central area in the city.

“I would describe the Frodsham Street site as an A trade area, rather than a B trading area where we are now.

“The demographic has changed vastly over the last few years and the town centre has moved towards Foregate Street with Primark and Marks and Spencer.

“It would be a boost to the market traders and the people of Chester.

“I would back that and I would encourage everybody else to do the same.”

Other traders at Chester Market Hall, currently at its historic Forum Shopping Centre site where it has been since the 1960s, believe the two-storey building with a new access from the City Walls and an enhanced entrance from Frodsham Street will not work.

Ayub Mohammed of Reflections clothing stall for 28 years and Chester chairman of the National Market Traders Federation said: “This isn’t a great site.

“When they move us out there what are they going to put here?

“Major retailers will be coming here, they bring the people in, and we will be jumping ship.

“It’s not a busy street to begin with.

“There’s no drag, and there’s no front door to the main street.

“It’s exactly the same as here, we’re hidden behind the buildings.

“It’s very difficult now, even the councillors and officers have turned around and said they don’t understand how we are still here.

“If you are a stranger to Chester you won’t find the market there.

“We should be part of the redevelopment of the Town Hall area.”

The car park currently provides disabled parking and a centre formobility scooters for shoppers.

Council spokesman, Ian Callister, said that those facilities would be relocated to elsewhere in the city centre.