I worked, briefly, as a cutter for Seymour's Shirts, on Sunbridge Road. We clocked off at 4.00 pm, which allowed a little shopping time before the stores closed. Then, I could walk way faster and further than I can now; a very brisk walk up Grattan Road and through the ginnel (alley) into James Gate, then onto James Street, took me into the market as they were packing up. I was on a low wage, so I took advantage of the end-of-day price reductions, and the produce was still good. A couple of quick trips after work and a main shop on a Saturday (no Sunday trading then!) took care of all my needs.
Rawson was one of three covered markets; through the bottom door (like much of Bradford, it's on a hill!) and across the road, there was the Kirkgate centre, then mostly a shopping centre but still with a few stalls selling clothing and haberdashery. Through the top door and across the road, there was John Street Market, and the Westgate Morrison's supermarket. John Street had some greengrocers selling more exotic fruit and veg, and a delicatessen, and probably other stalls with things like crockery, fabrics or carpets, but I don't really remember them.
Rawson market's main hall mostly contained the greengrocers' and butchers' stalls, in separate sections, with shops around the edge specialising in cured meats or offal, such as tripe and black pudding. There was a small Morrison's stall too, still selling butter and a few other goods, even though they had a supermarket across the road. One of the shops sold hot pork pies in a bowl of mushy peas, with sharp and aromatic mint sauce on top. With a mug of tea, it was a great lunch on a cold day. Not that I like meat much nowadays, but it's still the only way I could contemplate eating a pork pie. One of my favourite butchers did wonderful, thick pork chops with a slice of kidney in them; not something you see any more.
A side hall with a door onto James Street contained stalls selling fresh and cooked Whitby crabs, fish and shellfish, game and eggs. The vendors would happily prepare your fish or game, chatting as they wielded scarily sharp knives. Not a place for the squeamish, but it seemed to me that fewer people were, then. 40 years since the end of WWII, but that was still very much within living memory of the older population, whose main meals were still based on the traditional British 'meat and two veg', where one of the 'two veg' was generally potato.
I remember the place as light and reasonably clean, easy to navigate and friendly. I now regret not having tried to capture the atmosphere with my camera. In those days, I found photo processing expensive. Besides, it seemed so ordinary; but as with so much in everyday life, a retrospective view reveals the extra-ordinariness and impermanence of what we took for granted.
There is some archive film of the 700th Anniversary of Bradford's Market Charter in 1951 (sadly without sound), with footage in the markets, complete with eggs still on ration. It looks like its rebuilding, after being bombed in 1940, was managed in time for the anniversary. Or perhaps they just didn't point the cameras at the unfinished bits.
I haven't been back to Bradford since the late 1980s, when old and derelict housing and mill buildings were already being redeveloped for new housing, I thought it was time for a little tour via Google Maps. To my immense sadness and surprise, I found that the Rawson and James Street Markets are no more.
I found it quite hard to find out what happened and why. A public version of an agenda document for regeneration from 2017 had a couple of paragraphs. Google didn't bring up very much and although there were a number of articles from the Telegraph and Argus, photos have often been lost in the conversion to their new archive, and many articles are edited down to a desired length.
It seems in 1989 there were 'serious Health and Safety concerns and inadequate trading facilities', thus major redevelopment work was thought necessary by the Council. Only four years after my impressions that it was a thriving market full of well-established businesses! (Historically significant, too, as I believe J. B. Priestley remarked on the Pie Tom pie and peas shop!)
Traders were relocated to a temporary market in 1996 during the planned refurbishment. I'm guessing this is the 'new Rawson Market'
So what of the old market traders, who expected to be back in a newly-refurbished market in 1998 as promised when they were moved out, and whose livelihoods depended on their trade? A few might have moved into the Oastler Centre, but I expect many of them didn't survive the move out of the old markets. It might be due to losing clientele in the upheaval of moving, and the lack of passing trade at the new site, (the old Rawson Market was a handy cut through, because who wants to take a less direct route in the typical Bradford winter weather?) Changing tastes mean reduced demand for game, meat and fish, and a preference for sanitised, packaged lumps of produce, with no reminder of their living origins.
The old Rawson Market has since been 'regenerated' into the Rawson Quarter, containing, by the looks of it, a Wilko and a B&M, and some residential units behind the old facades. The Rawson Road building has since been renamed 'The Bazaar' and reused by a selection of stalls selling (largely Indian/Asian) clothing, jewellery and make up. In the pictures, it looks bright and clean and just the place to go if you need a new shalwar kameez.
It makes me wonder if this was part of a hidden Council agenda; markets, with their open stalls, are obviously untidy and most of their shoppers are poor and immigrants, etc. There's more to be made in business rates and rentals, the creeping gentrification placing more value in the young, trendy and more affluent section of the population.
By 2017, footfall in the Oastler Centre was declining, partly attributable, I'm sure, to the closure of the adjacent Morrison's on Westgate in 2016 (? - I may have the date wrong). There has now been a proposal to demolish the Oastler Centre and regenerate the 'top of town' into a 'city village'. The existing infrastructure probably makes redevelopment there less financially daunting than other derelict property around the city, which would need updated services, utilities and road infrastructure, as well as potentially having to clean up contaminated brownfield sites.
A new, 'food-led' market is being built on Darley Street and Kirkgate market will undergo changes too. Nothing stays the same for long any more. Unlike the magnificent (and grade 1 listed) Victorian buildings such as City Hall and Cloth Hall, it seems the expected lifespan of modern developments is only 20 to 25 years. 'The death of the high street' and need for urban regeneration are big topics for another time, perhaps, but I find the rate of change alarming, as if we no longer value what we have.
So much for progress. I'm happy that I had the opportunity to experience and use Rawson and James Street Markets. They were a marvellous and now increasingly rare resource. I like living down here and don't miss the city, but I wish we had a proper market. The young and trendy don't know what they're missing.
Links (in case you feel inclined to explore further!)
https://bradford.moderngov.co.uk/documents/g6553/Public%20reports%20pack%2008th-Mar-2017%2018.00%20Regeneration%20and%20Economy%20Overview%20and%20Scrutiny%20Committee%20.pdf?T=10
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/18240998.1-000-home-plan-city-centre-village-described-radical-unprecedented/
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