Over the last few years, a part of Nottingham’s history has slowly started to vanish, with traders at the Victoria Centre Market being asked to end their hundred year leases partway through. A space that once hosted hundreds of local traders is now home to just a few- who find themselves in a state of limbo. Matteo D’Alesio visits to hear some of their concerns, while taking a step back in time to highlight what made the market special in the first place.
In the late 70s my dad went to Nottingham Trent University (then a polytechnic). He studied Civil Engineering, and on Fridays he’d go to the fishmongers in Victoria Centre Market – he also fancied the girl who worked there. Now, after 35 years of marriage, my mum still doesn’t like this story.
“I never actually spoke to her,” my dad tells me. “I never plucked up the courage to say ‘You want to go for a drink or something?’” Sorry mum. As I talk to my dad about the market, it's clear how much has changed. “The market was cheaper than everything else – the superstores weren't as prevalent. Plus, I was used to going to the market in Swansea.”
Over the years, the role of markets has changed. Back in the 1970s, supermarkets were still in their infancy and people were much more likely to visit their local market to buy their food and household goods. The roles and finances of our local government have changed dramatically too. This change happened physically for the Victoria Centre Market in stages.
The potted history goes like this: The Old Market Square was once home to a permanent market (I felt as stupid typing that out as you felt reading it) which dated back to the eleventh century. In 1928, the market moved to the nearby King Edward Street and became known as Central Market, in a now demolished building opposite The Palais.
In 1972, the Victoria Centre opened and the Central Market stalls moved in, becoming Victoria Centre Market. At that point many traders were given a hundred-year lease on their units by Nottingham City Council to incentivise the move. The Victoria Centre Market was half on the ground floor and half on the first floor. In 2008, the market moved entirely to the first floor, where it remains to this day (though now mostly blocked off with chipboard). Gradually, since then, the market has become less visible and accessible, whilst surrounded by national and international chain stores in the centre.
Nottingham City Council says continuing its lease on the market will cost it £39 million over the next fifty years. The organisation is trapped in a deal made by staff who worked there half a century ago, and have long since retired. In the light of the council’s recent and well-documented financial troubles, it’s perhaps understandable why it doesn’t want to financially support the Victoria Market anymore.
I get people coming to my shop to talk to me. They say, ‘You're the first person I've spoken to for the whole week, I live by myself.’ You can't get this in other shops. You can't stand there talking to people
It was back in 2022 that Nottingham City Council first announced its intention to close the market, and in the years after it started to offer settlements to traders to break the terms of the contract and move their businesses elsewhere. In April 2025, Victoria Centre Market was meant to shut for the final time. However, at the time of writing, four businesses; Tick King (watch repairs), Tracey's Cafe (food and drink), Gemini Jewellers (jewellery) and Aladdin's Cave (hardware) are still trading there. Why?
“So the council made an offer [on the remaining lease]. I was told to accept, and we did,” Stephen explains, as we stand amongst egg timers, push pins, and duct tape, in his all-purpose store Aladdin’s Cave (those were just a few items sold during our brief conversation).
To acquiesce to the offer, Stephen went to the council office in-person, only to be told that the staff member needed for that process was on annual leave – despite (in an almost comical turn of events) being able to directly see them. “I said, ‘I can see him!” Stephen tells me, exasperated. “He's just there, he's just gone around that corner.’” Stephen was told they were just collecting things on their way out. With that, the deadline for both parties to finalise the agreement disappeared too.
Suzanne is another trader who has been trying to liaise with the council for a fair early end-of-lease package. I spoke to her over the counter of her shop Gemini Jewellers through a sparkling mist of hanging chains. Like Stephen, Suzanne has experienced their disappearing act too. She claims she was promised waived rent for closing during COVID, but when she re-opened, this promise and her letter confirming the arrangement had vanished – the council had no record of it either. Suzanne was able to continue trading, but others were not so fortunate.
“The flower lady that's been there for seventy years had to go because she couldn't pay her rent,” Suzanne tells me. ”The pet shop, the tomatoes and plant store, all the big ones in the middle, all had to leave because they couldn't pay.”
The list of former stalls is near endless. Some like Mona’s Beauty Bar, now located in Long Row, were able to agree settlements and flourish elsewhere. However, others are now confined to memories and photos from a pre-internet era. Ty’s Continental Food Store offered Caribbean flavours and warmth to its community of customers for 36 years. For eighteen years the Lizian Crystal & Incense Shop was like walking inside a geode. The Madhouse Nut Centre was open for 31 years, with its spectacle-like display of nuts, fruits, and spices. Mary & Tony's Books had more books than shop, and began life in 1962 at the Central Market before closing in 2022. For a brief time there was even a stall dedicated to Elvis Presley memorabilia, run by a superfan mum-and-son duo. Not only have these shops stopped trading in the Victoria Centre Market, but they’ve stopped trading entirely. Along with the expertise of specific traders, each one represents a lost piece of history which, in Stephen’s case, is interwoven with his family’s past.
“Apparently I was six weeks old when I first went there [Central Market] on the counter,” he shares. “It sounds like child labour now, but we [Stephen and his brother] used to work there. We did that for our childhood.”
Stephen wants to continue the family tradition of running a business, not fighting the council. I ask whether he’d want to find new premises but the current limbo has made plans for the future fanciful. Stephen shares how it’s affecting the present: “As it stands I can't buy a washing machine. There's no chance I could get a mortgage. And it's the stress it's causing. Apparently, I talk about it in my sleep.”
It’s clear that a fresh start is on pause until a resolution is reached with the council. Suzanne is similarly mournful about the council’s treatment of the market: “I get people coming to my shop to talk to me. They say, ‘You're the first person I've spoken to for the whole week, I live by myself.’ You can't get this in other shops. You can't stand there talking to people.”
In my hometown, Shrewsbury, the market hall I remember from my youth was in danger of fossilising; it felt like stall after stall was only selling root vegetables. It was also the site where, at four years old, I asked Jet from Gladiators for a kiss which she obliged by letting me kiss her on the cheek (where else am I going to share that?). But today, after a major reimagining – Shrewsbury Market Hall is a hive of small independents with sales and footfall growing each year. It’s even been voted ‘Britain’s Favourite Market’ three years on the bounce – proof that things could be different for Nottingham. You only have to go to Sneinton Market Avenues or Cobden Chambers to see the appetite the city has for bricks and mortar independents, and the opportunity it provides for traders.
However, until Nottingham City Council and those four remaining traders can come to an agreement, Victoria Centre Market remains at least partly open – whether that’s for days, weeks, months, or years. So if you want a £5 English breakfast, to get your watch fixed, to buy some jewellery or get hold of an egg timer, go in whilst you still can and say hello.
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