Belfast City Council has made an appeal to Stormont to give the Trademarket a lifeline while they look for a new site for the food and drink venue.
The council’s Strategic Policy and Resources (SPR) committee have backed a call urging Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure (DfI) to allow another short “meanwhile” lease for the market at its temporary Dublin Road site, to give the traders association time to look for a new location.
Earlier this month Belfast City Council gave the green light for two major developments on the former Movie House site by digital technology company Kainos and Queen’s University.
The construction of the new Kainos headquarters is set to begin in September, while Queen’s hope to have their new student accommodation building ready for the 2026/27 term.
Trademarket are appealling for the public to support them in a plan to move their businesses next door to Bankmore Square.
A spokesperson said: “It is with a very heavy heart that we must announce the closure of Trademarket from the end of Summer 2024.
“Trademarket has always been a hub for independent businesses and has over 20 spaces for grassroots enterprise and has employed 100+ people. We always knew that our time at 14 Dublin Road, Belfast was limited, but we expected to make this announcement with a plan for the future.”
The statement said that the permanent closure of Trademarket would be “unnecessary” as they believed it could be housed at the Bankmore Square site, a space they describe as a “natural fit” for the business.
This appeal faces a major hurdle as the DfI already has plans to develop Bankmore Square for the planned north/south Glider route.
It emerged at the council’s Planning Committee meeting earlier this month that Kainos had offered to spend a considerable sum to regenerate public realm space around Bankmore Square when it builds its HQ, only to be told not to by the DfI.
At the SPR committee meeting members agreed that if the market moved to Bankmore Square for a short period before work began on the Glider route, it could give them enough time to find a permanent home.
Green councillor Brian Smyth, who proposed the plan, said: “We have seen how this area has grown since Covid, how popular it is. It means a lot to a lot of people here, and I would like us to write to DfI, to the minister, to say we are supportive of finding a space at Bankmore.”
Alliance councillor Micky Murray said: “Anyone that works for a South Belfast MLA or MP will know that they have had thousands of emails in, and that has crashed email systems. And there are thousands more to come, from people who just want to see this collection of small businesses be saved.”
