Derby Market Hall — Local services in Great Britain

Initially I was really excited about visiting and couldn’t wait to go to the newly refurbished Market Hall. After asking a few friends and family members, who had been, if it was worth it they all said pretty much the same thing- it’s not really worth visiting. I finally got chance to go this morning and I can honestly say I didn’t expect it to be as poor as it was. I checked online before going and it stated it is open from 8am on Monday- Wednesday (today being Tuesday) I thought that was great and planned to visit around half 9. When I walked in I was met with the shutters down at every single stall around the edge and the “pop up” stalls in the middle were totally empty! I’d seen photos of the stalls on social media days ago and every stall was filled and bustling, so you can understand my shock at being met with a large open space with the empty stalls dotted about and very little else. From what I could see there were just lots and lots of food stalls of different cuisines around the edge, a second hand clothing stall and one selling tat (can’t think of another word to describe it). There were no other customers there at all, no music, no cafes, absolutely nothing! It was a strange atmosphere. A far cry from the photos of the opening weekend, it sadly seems all the effort was put in for that first couple of days, and now it’s midweek it’s died off. Shocked and disappointed is an understatement! I thought maybe I’d got the opening times wrong so checked again to be sure, but, no it was definitely 8am. I’m still confused as to why everything was shut, despite the opening times but here we are! The only 2 stalls that were actually open were the Derbyshire’s Own stall (highly recommended! Wonderful and friendly service, gorgeous produce/offerings and I will definitely be a regular visitor! This is the type of stall like to see in a market) and the crystal/spiritual stall (decent service but soooo pricey!) So all in all I was really unimpressed and felt let down by the market hall. I’m not sure how it’s going to continue if the “permanent” stalls aren’t open on time (goodness knows when they actually open) and no pop up stalls available to browse. (Again not sure if this is the norm now for weekdays or they’re waiting for more enquiries from potential stall holders) either way I just can’t see it’s a feasible idea and I certainly (like many others) can’t see where £35m has been spent! I will continue to visit the Derbyshire’s Own stall but that will be the only reason I return, as sadly, Derby’s once fabulous market hall is nothing but an empty shell which appears to be declining already days after opening....

So today the Aspire Wrestling Academy took there show to the Derby Market Hall for the very first time and what a venue, what a spectacle it was let me tell ya pal! We arrived around 10 ish and left the crewe setting up while I nipped round the corner to greggs for my morning meal deal.....you canna whack a decent bacon sarnie with a bit of tommy ketch and a good old mocha pal! Headed back to the market hall and set up stall on the front row with a prime view of the entrance and ring 💍 Just before doors opened at 11 I was bosting for a tiddal so headed straight to the ode toilet facilities. To my surprise 3 of the sinks were bust and out of use with only 1 available sink to use and the ode tap wouldn't turn off so water was just gushing out and wouldn't stop. Very surprising with the venue being so new, although there were a number of Leeds and Derby supporters in the masses watching on! Some good matches on show today with Muzzy picking up a good win over the ace man, Derby getting one over on Leeds and the tag team champs picking up victory in the tag turmoil match. The ex gladiator man Wesley Nzereko picked up a win over rich Robinson and that blokes a unit let me tell ya pal, looked like he enjoyed the moment! Went to check the ode food units out at the interval and went with a gyros from tony. Tell you what pal, what a man tony is, what a gyros it was a beaut and took me a good 5 mins to devour, full of flavour, full of all the meats, yummy yummy in the ode tummy! The wife won on the raffle and we headed home with an ultimate warrior 💪 dvd and a bag of hero's chocolates. All was good, cracking show, cracking crowd, cracking atmosphere and the ai camera picked up footfall of just under 2500 people in and out the joint throughout the show. I'd say the best venue we have had the pleasure of performing and watching at! Keep up the good work everyone and hopefully we will be back here...

Popped in last Saturday to have a look and was massively disappointed. Where do I start?! Too open and clinical looking, nothing to dampen down noise (I couldn't hear my partner over the cacophony and he was stood next to me), food area boring and too crammed into the corner, weird mix of 'shops' with bland signage that gives no clue as to what's inside, pop up stalls had no personal signage just pre-done generic "treat yourself" etc banners on each one and all facing the same way away from the main entrance?! Just such a weird place/vibe/use of a beautiful building.

Needs some tall plants or planters dotted around for interest and to break up the vast openness, some sort of soft furnishings to absorb some noise, some sectioning in the middle or in the food area to create a cosier atmosphere, allow businesses to use their own less boring signage. I'll go again in a few months to see what's changed as they inevitably will. It needs a serious rethink it if it's to survive as there's no chance if it stays as it is. Such a shame as it could have been...