Wakefield Market traders living 'one day to the next' as coronavirus hits trade in city centre

Stall holders, who line the city's cathedral precinct between Thursdays and Saturdays, have been told it’s “business as usual” and that all of the district’s markets will remain open for the timebeing despite the coronavirus outbreak.

Traders have warmly welcomed the council’s decision to give a month’s free rent from this week, which they say will help during these troubled times.

But with no timescale for when public life will return to normal and the city centre largely free of office workers and shoppers early on Thursday, there is anxious uncertainty about what lies ahead.

Hat and scarf seller Paul Wilson, who’s been a trader for three years, said: "You just don’t know how long this is going to go on for, so you don’t know how much stock you should buy.

"You're keeping an eye on whether or not London's going to go into lockdown and how that might affect us.

“The run-up to Mother’s Day is normally a great week for trade, with people buying scarves and things like that, but it is quiet.

“I think most traders are just hoping to get what they can out of this weekend and then next week’s just being written off.

“Having a month rent free is really helpful. Wakefield’s the only council to have done that for traders from what I’ve heard.

“But it’s a worrying time.”

Clothes sellers Mohammed Saghir and Nazakat Khan are equally concerned.

"Nobody has been shopping,” Mohammed said.

"Business has gone right down. I’m worried for our livelihoods."

"Trade’s gone down every day,” Nazakat added. “We’re down here every Thursday. But it’s just dead.”

Although the city centre was noticeably people-free just after the morning rush hour on Thursday as many employees work from home, there was a notable, if gentle pick-up in footfall over the next hour.

Armed police were also present near the stalls in an unmarked vehicle, amid government warnings about panic buying and supermarkets limiting the selling of stock to a maximum of three per item.

Stall holder Lynne Bryan said: “It’s too early to tell how it will be today.

“We’ll see what happens later but I’m hoping it will pick up.

“But it has affected us already (over the last few days). We’ve just got to go day by day at the moment.”

Debra Lowe, who runs her popular falafel van on market days.

She said: “I normally pick up trade from the workers coming out here at lunchtime, but so many people are working from home.

“We’ll see how it goes this afternoon. It's one day to the next at the moment.

“You’ve got to think about food because you don’t want to be throwing food out that you’ve bought fresh.

“Food prices haven’t helped either. I can normally get three bunches of coriander for £1 - now it’s 89p per bunch. It’s not going to be easy to trade.”

On a more positive note, Debra thinks the Wakefield community has been tightly-knit during the crisis.

"I think people are still in good spirits,” she said. “People are rallying round and trying to help each other and that’s a good thing.”

Local Democracy Reporting Service