ONE of the saddest things to witness in Blackburn over the past 15 years has been the steady decline of the town's once-famous market.
Twenty years ago it was a place day-tripper coach tours made a bee-line for (along with nearby Tommy Balls), but not any more.
But it's not something that was bound to happen because of economic forces or changing habits.
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Just look at the almost simultaneous rise of Bury market, described in this newspaper on Saturday by Dave Myers - the smaller one of TV's Hairy Bikers - as being "like Harrods food hall only a lot cheaper."
Then there's the growth of the monthly Sunday Farmers' Markets at Hoghton Tower which attract hundreds of people from around the region and stallholders from as far afield as Cheshire and Carlisle.
And the opportunity that's been lost in allowing all kinds of Asian food shops to develop in the Whalley Range area instead of embracing them in a truly diverse central market of the kind that you find in cosmopolitan cities all over the world.
What went wrong?
The answer I reckon is many years of management by council officials and councillors sorely lacking flair, imagination and marketing nous.
Stallholders too have to share some of the blame for the occasions when they have discouraged new tenants they feared might take some of their business.
They should have realised that markets aren't real markets without choice and vigorous competition.
The lack of inspirational management was vividly illustrated last week by the ludicrous treatment of loyal market man Francis Mulhearn, who is 76 years old and has run a successful cosmetics stall against all the odds for more than 20 years.
In an attempt to brighten up the increasingly-ghostly atmosphere of the place he put some of his own artwork on one of the many derelict stalls to brighten the place up.
He wasn't even trying to sell them.
But the dead hand of market management quickly told him that there were regulations against that sort of thing and he should shift them forthwith or pay rent for the empty stall.
Instead of seeing a great public relations opportunity even council leader Colin Rigby backed the market managers' "rules are rules" stance.
The attitude would be laughable were it not for the fact that it's yet another nail in the coffin of an enterprise the council aims to reinvigorate and move to a new Church Street site in two years.
The word enterprise is the key to all this.
Market traders are people who live on their wits and selling skills.
The hall should be buzzing with new ideas that will catch public imagination and attract shoppers.
Anyone who sees running such a place as a mere matter of rigidly enforcing a rule book should be despatched to a building where their talents might actually be useful.
Issuing parking tickets for the council springs to mind.
Posted by: simplysimon, burnley on 3:34pm Sat 5 Apr 08
Apparently the Manager of the market for the last fifteen years was previously a carpet fitter before he was given the job of running the market.
About as much marketing skill as a carpet-tack. They say it's who, not what you know.
Apparently the Manager of the market for the last fifteen years was previously a carpet fitter before he was given the job of running the market.
About as much marketing skill as a carpet-tack. They say it's who, not what you know.
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