Fire at Ashton Market Hall

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Fire at Ashton Market Hall

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Ashton-under-Lyne's historic market hall was devastated by fire in the early hours of Tuesday 25th May 2004.

The following video's were shot on the 26th May and document the reaction of Councillors, Council employees, the Fire Service, the Police and Tameside residents.

Text Only Version

An interview with Councillor Kieran Quinn, Cabinet Deputy for Economic Services

What's the situation at the moment?

Currently the fire fighters are just damping down what's left of the still some charred embers and clearly after that we need to get the building inspectors in to see what the actual state of the building is, how much of the heritage, the history that is contained within that building we can save. Because, as you know it's a very historic building, 1861 was the first element of the market hall. Clearly we want to save as much of it as we possibly can and that work is going to start once the fire fighters let us on to the site.

So what's the long term future for the market hall?

At the moment we have no plans for the long term future of the market hall. Other than to say there will be a future for the market hall. Clearly although it's a very sad occasion, it has given us an opportunity to see how we can fit the heritage that's contained within the market hall into perhaps a newly regenerated Ashton town centre, which includes a market hall and obviously an outdoor market. But that's 2 to 3 years before it's finalised. My priority at the moment is about getting the traders trading somewhere close to where this market hall is.

Right, well do you have an indication as to the timescales involved in providing an alternative site for the indoor market traders?

At the moment it's difficult because clearly the commitment we've given to the traders is that, yes, as soon as we possibly can we would get a new market hall up and running. There are two sites that we're looking at; both have potential but both also have issues and some difficulties that we have to overcome and I say that the quickest we can say would be 6 weeks, maybe 8 weeks; at the most I would say 3 months but obviously the timescales will be based on how successful we are at finding these answers and the commitment again I give is that we will get the new market hall up and running as quickly as we possibly can.

What help have you given the market traders so far?

Well at the moment it's mainly counselling, talking to them, seeing obviously what we can do to help them, seeing what cover they had. All the sorts of questions that you know, yesterday was a day of shock, now today is a day of reflection, and what we've done is we've put aside some rooms in the Council Offices so that traders can come in and talk to people, give them a whole range of help and advice, but the most important thing I can do is get them trading again, get them working again and that's my priority at the present moment in time. But any assistance we can give them, obviously we will give them.

How big a blow is this fire to Ashton?

In the short term it is a blow, yes, because tens of thousands of people come here every week. It's a very vibrant, exciting market. Its got that wonderful mixture of the traditional service that you'd get at a market in a modern setting so clearly, you know, we want to see what impact it will have in the long term. I know I'm repeating myself, let's get them up and working; lets get the outdoor market going. We hope to have the outdoor market up by the weekend, that's the target we've set ourselves - Saturday, so that trading, normal trading, can resume. Once we know the state of the building; what can be saved, what needs to be demolished, then we will know more long term about the outdoor market. But, as I say in the short term, yes, it's going to have an impact on the town centre of Ashton. But the spirit of Ashton; you know, the people of Ashton, they're rallying round already, they want to know what they can do to help. What they can do to help is to come into Ashton and shop.

An interview with Ian Kelly, Markets Manager

Market traders are obviously concerned about the future. Can you say when the outdoor market is likely to reopen?

I'm afraid I'm still not in a position to confirm that. The safety of the front elevation, the wall at the front of the market hall hasn't been ascertained. It will probably, almost certainly, have to be shored in order to make it safe and that is not something that's going to happen in the next 24 hours. But you've got half the market ground will be available to us probably on Friday and we are going to do our best to run some sort of market on Saturday and to continue with the Farmers' market on the (the regular monthly Farmers' market) on Sunday. We won't be able to run the table top sale side by side with the Farmers as we normally do, but we are going, whatever stalls are available will be made available to the traders that come to the Farmers' market.

What's the future for the traders who were in the market hall?

It's very difficult to say. At this stage the whole issue of insurance, under insurance, even people that may not be insured at all has cast a very dark shadow and making the future livelihood of a lot of these people very, very questionable. We'll do all we can to offer what support we can, certainly we are looking already at 2 or 3 possible sites for a temporary market hall. Unfortunately, that's probably going to be 6 to 8 weeks at the earliest before we can do something, but there are a lot of issues surrounding that in terms of equipment and stock which have got to be addressed even when we've identified where we can put the structure.

So the Farmers' Market is likely to take place this sunday?

The Farmers' Market will definitely take place this Sunday. We will have to limit it to the farmers, artists and craft producers because we haven't got the stalls available for the normal table toppers. So whereas normally half the market is set out as the farmers and the other half is the table top sale and the general market, this week will be farmers and craft people only. But Sunday, May 30th there will definitely be a Farmers' Market in Ashton town centre.

If people have general enquiries about the future of the markets, who should they ring?

At the moment we have something of a problem in that all our lines of communication were based in the market office. We are trying very hard to get our normal extension number, which was 342 3268, or 3268 as an internal extension, transferred to a phone in the area where we're currently working from but we are likely to be moving around over the next few days until we get a permanent nest. But hopefully by tomorrow 3268 will reach us.

Right, and general queries from the public can also go through the Council's Call Centre?

They can and those are being passed to us. We are taking those. Someone is going up to the office on a regular basis and picking up emails, faxes and details of calls.

An interview with the Barry Jones, Divisional Officer, Greater Manchester Fire Service

Okay, my name is Barry Jones, I'm a Divisional Officer with Greater Manchester Fire Service.

I was here when the actual fire occurred or when we were first called out to the fire. Initially we got the call at 2 minutes past 3, the fire engines were here within minutes. Three fire engines to start off with. The fire soon broke through the roof and we had to make pumps 8 and then subsequently from that we made pumps 12, so we had 90 fire fighters on the scene. We also had what we call four ‘aerial appliances' attacking the fire from the roof, from the top of the roof down inwards to get on top of the fire.

We are now undertaking a full fire investigation to try and establish what actually caused this particular fire.

An interview with Detective Inspector Alogba

Do you believe this fire was a deliberate arson attack?

At this stage we can't say with any degree of certainty whether it was an intentional fire or whether there's been an accidental cause. We can't rule out the possibility of arson and obviously the initial investigation will focus on trying to determine the exact cause whether that be accidental or intentional and gathering all necessary information that we need to be able to establish if anybody, who was responsible. And we'll work in conjunction with the fire brigade, the investigation officers for that, along with our own crime scene examination unit and the local authority to determine exactly what the cause was.

So what stage is the investigation at, at the moment?

It's an early stage at the moment. Unfortunately, because of the extent of the damage which, as you can see, is extensive, the floors have collapsed onto the lower levels, which means that potential evidence may well be buried underneath rubble and, as a result of that, we will have to develop a strategy to be able to get at the evidence underneath. And so, it's probably going to be some considerable time before we can give a definite answer.

Is that a matter of weeks or...?

There is no way, at this stage, of me determining that. We haven't spoken to the fire officers who were involved in the investigation and they can't give me a definite answer as to the length of time they will take because of the scope and the extent to which the building has been damaged. And because at this stage we are still working on the actual safety of the building, we can't even begin that investigation until we are happy that what's left of the structure is safe and officers can then go in to determine exactly what is needed.

If anybody had any information about the incident, who should they contact?

In the first instance, if they could contact the CID at Stalybridge Police Station. The direct number for that would be 0161 856 9540. Or, if they prefer to remain anonymous, if they contacted Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 and they can leave information there and an officer would come back to them or they can leave it there purely anonymously.

Interviews with Local Shoppers

Obviously, you've come down to look at the damage. What do you think, what's happened, what do you think it means for Ashton?

It's terrible really I mean. It's not just the people that have actually got the stalls inside the market, it's the spin offs from that as well. I mean, such as the chemists, the shop round there, the chip shop round here. And if they don't rebuild it there and they locate it somewhere else, it's going to affect all the other shops isn't it? Because they get the trade. People come to the market and then they go to the other shops.

Did you used to shop at the market?

Yes. Everyday. We went to the butchers there everyday. I don't think there is a butchers in Ashton now. Not a local butchers, only supermarkets. Yes, that's all there is. Yes, there's nothing else.

So, do you know people who worked in there?

Yes. A couple of our neighbours worked there. Friends of ours. Yes. She worked at the butchers shop in there. Next thing it will be that . She's been there for years hasn't she? We've heard of one stall holder, she hadn't been in the business long, she'd just bought the business, mortgaged the house up to the hilt, and all that's gone to magic and she can lose her home now she says.

But Ashton people are strong, aren't they. That's one of the...

Oh yes, you know, but that's been there... I mean, what are they going to do? Are they going to rebuild on the same place?

Well the Council is... They don't know yet... the Council's actually trying to find another site, a temporary site and then they'll have a long term plan for what they're going to do. But they can't do anything at the moment, just planning. But certainly they are hoping that within 6 to 8 weeks to have a new temporary site. They've got a few different places in mind.

I can't see them trying rebuilding that historic build ...

Well, I've heard they haven't decided yet. But they'll certainly be hoping to preserve some of it. If they can't rebuild it.

Look what happened in Manchester when the bomb devastated all that part and they absolutely rebuilt the whole lot and its brilliant now you know. But I suppose it could be planned something like that. It's not going to be like Ashton without the market hall and the outside market. I mean, really, if they build another market hall, where's there enough land to build an outside market as well, the two go together don't they, really?

They're supposed to be talking about building the new Metrolink. Weren't they? We heard that they wanted this site - I don't know.

Just a rumour that we've heard.

Well, I thought it was over the other side? I thought it was more the Penny Meadow side?

Yes, but we heard they wanted this area, so I don't know. It's just things that you hear people talking about, locally. I was born in Ashton, I wasn't born far from here, Union Street. Wife was born in Blackpool. I've lived here all my life.

Page last updated: 23 August 2007