New Rochdale Market expected to open in August

The new market building

The long-anticipated new Rochdale Market on The Butts and in the former Santander Bank is expected to be open in August.

Run by specialists Quarterbridge, the market will consist of indoor stalls and a café.

It was originally set to open by Easter 2017, a date which has long gone.

Since then, Rochdale Market is now operating three days a week from a new temporary location at Lord Square and the bottom of Yorkshire Street. Open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the stalls have reduced in numbers with 19 gazebo stalls available.

After close to four decades in the Exchange Shopping Centre, Rochdale Market was forced to move to the former 'Black Box' site in January 2015 – itself a temporary measure – where traders operated for two and a half years without basic facilities. Work on opening the river at the time prevented the move of the market to the preferred location of The Butts.