Wellington Market
The vision for Wellington Market
The historic 12th century indoor market is at the heart of Wellington’s conservation area and its survival and adaptation to changing shopping and leisure demands is vital to the local economy. Footfall to the market underpins other high street activity.
Recent support through Telford & Wrekin Council’s Pride in Our High Street programme has seen the creation of an outdoor pop-up market and entertainment area as well as the creation of an internal food court. This has demonstrated the potential of the market and has created a significant opportunity to transform it into a modern, thriving venue that will sit at the heart of Wellington’s retail, leisure and entertainment offer.
Capital Regeneration Programme funding will enable the Council to purchase Wellington Market and carry out the restoration of this historic building. The funding will also be used to transform the approaches and entrances to Wellington Market.
Consultation and engagement
The results of the 2020 Telford & Wrekin Council resident survey (5,473 responses) and the latest public survey which was carried in June 2022 (686 responses) has helped to inform the development of Wellington Market proposals to date. Headline findings include:
- 83% agreed/strongly agreed that “Wellington Market is a key asset to the Town Centre”. (June 2022 survey)
- 93% agreed/strongly agreed that “they would like to see more independent businesses in the Town Centre”. (June 2022 survey)
- 74% agreed/strongly agreed that “they would like to attend events and activities in Wellington Town Centre”. (June 2022 survey)
- 20% of respondents indicated that Wellington is their main retail centre (resident survey 2020)
- 80% of respondents do not think Wellington is living up to its market town brand (resident survey 2020)
Residents who responded to the survey also expressed:
- A desire to strengthen independent shops and local sourcing, food and drink offer and events, public spaces, and cultural facilities in the town.
- Strong support for Wellington Market and desire to see investment, extended opening and wider variety on offer.
- Occasional / infrequent users of Wellington Market, when asked why they visited as little as they did, commented on lack of variety of goods, the lack of atmosphere, the ‘run down’ appearance, and lack of convenience (opening times).
Preliminary design proposals were prepared to support the Levelling Up Fund bid and the next steps will be to engage with stallholders and the community to help inform the future restoration of the market.
The project
The Capital Regeneration Programme funding will support the acquisition and the restoration of the historic 12th century market.
The funding will also improve access, visibility and impact of the market by transforming the approaches and entrance points and creating attractive public spaces. Improvements have already been made to Market Street and improvements will also be made to Church Street.
The key outcomes of the project are to:
- Deliver a retail, food and leisure hub providing spaces for small independent businesses
- Improve layouts to maximise useable floors pace, preserve historic features and enhance accessibility and flow of footfall
- Have a curated arts and entertainment programme that will give local people access to family-friendly evening entertainment
- Create an inviting ‘sense of arrival’ that draws people into the market
- Attract additional footfall and increase dwell time in Wellington, supporting local businesses in the town centre and safeguarding the future of the town
- Increase the number of customers to Wellington market, including a younger demographic
- Attract new traders to the market
- Improve accessibility and connectivity for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists
- Create an attractive environment and spaces to dwell
- Create stronger gateways to the market
Key Milestones:
- Winter 23 / Spring 24: Consultation and engagement activity
- Winter 2024: Submit planning application and expected planning decision
Subject to planning:
- Spring 25: Works start on site
- Spring 26: Completion of refurbishment works.
In Wellington, the market which sits at the heart of the local community forms a key part of Wellington’s identity.
Developing the market, supporting small businesses and expanding the evening economy are all key priorities.
Support from Telford & Wrekin Council’s Pride in Our High Street programme has seen the creation of an outdoor pop-up market and entertainment area as well as the creation of an internal food court. This has demonstrated the potential of the market and has created a significant opportunity to transform the market into a modern, thriving venue that will sit at the heart of Wellington’s retail, leisure and entertainment offer.
Levelling Up Funding will enable the Council to purchase and redevelop the Market Hall. The newly refurbished facility will preserve this important asset and will ensure that the market continues to be a key destination in the heart of Wellington. Key benefits will include:
- Delivering a retail, food and leisure hub providing spaces for small independent businesses
- Delivering layouts and configurations that will maximise useable floorspace, preserve historic features, and enhance accessibility and flow of footfall
- Having a curated arts and entertainment programme will support creative industries and give local people access to a programme of family-friendly evening entertainment
- Creating an inviting ‘sense of arrival’ that draws people into the market
- Attracting additional footfall and dwell time in Wellington, thus supporting local businesses in the town centre and safeguarding the future of the town
- Attracting new traders to the market
- Increasing the number of customers to the market, including younger people
- Improving accessibility and connectivity for vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists
- Creating an attractive environment and spaces to dwell
- Creating stronger gateways to the market
We will work with Market traders to minimise disruption to trading during the investment works. Once the scale and phasing of the works is known we will be able to provide further details and work together will traders to support them during this period.
We will endeavour to minimise the impact of the works and keep the market open. As we determine the scale of works required, we will be able to provide further details including any impact on opening arrangements. It is hoped that some of the works could be phased.
We estimate that the works will take approximately 1 year.
There will be no immediate impact on residents and businesses. However, once the proposed development works are underway, there will inevitably be some impact on the operation of the market.
Once the design proposals have been finalised, we will be able to share further details .
Future public consultations via face to face and online events and surveys will be publicised on the ‘Get Involved' webpage.
In the meantime, if you would like to contact us about the Wellington Market project, please email levellingupfund@telford.gov.uk.
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