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From The Liverpool
Daily Post - Monday, November 11, 1974 |
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£2m blaze destroys Birkenhead market |
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SHOCKED TRADERS IN CRISIS MEETING |
Wirral councillors and officials met more than 100 shocked stallholders
at a hurriedly called meeting at Birkenhead fire station last night following one of
Merseyside's biggest ever blazes which totally destroyed the town's 129-year-old market
hall on Saturday night.
No one was injured in the blaze which caused damage estimated at £2 million,
but some of the traders - originally due to have been rehoused three years ago in the
still uncompleted Grange Shopping Precinct - have lost stock worth thousands of pounds. It
was in an attempt to keep in business that they met with council chief executive Mr Ian
Holt and other representatives last night.
Alternative sites from which they could operate - including Woodside Lairage,
Grange Road Sports Centre and the bus depot at New Ferry - were offered to the traders but
they refused to make any decision and will meet again an Wednesday.
An inquiry is to be held into the cause of the fire which swept through the
building on Saturday night. Arson has been ruled out but investigations are continuing.
The alarm was raised shortly before 10 p.m. by two girls who dashed into the
Hamilton Club below the market. More than 100 people were evacuated from the club while 14
fire-fighting appliances from all over Merseyside raced to the scene. But by the time the
blaze was brought under control, only the shell of the building remained.
Hundreds of spectators turned up to watch the fire fighting and damping down
which went on until mid-day yesterday.
At the height of the blaze masonary and glass showered into the streets
nearby. According to a fire brigade spokesman there was never any hope of saving the
building which was also damaged by fire in 1969.
"The fire had got a good hold when arrived." he said "It
obviously spread rapidly before penetrating the outer walls and being spotted."
Last night all entrances to the market were sealed off by the police because
of a danger of the outer walls of the building collapsing. The Hamilton club was flooded
with six inches of water and the owners said it was unlikely they would be reopening
there.
The market hall was equipped with fire alarms but these were not of the
automatic type and would have to have been set of manually and there was no automatic link
between the building and Birkenhead fire station.
Provision is to be made for such a link in the multimillion pound Grange
centre which is due to open in 1976. |
Devastation . . . yesterday morning's picture of the aftermath of the blaze
which completely
destroyed the interior of Birkenhead Market. Early estimates but the damage at
around £2m
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A catastrophe, say the stallholders |
As stall-holders begin to count the cost of the fire which destroyed
Birkenhead's historic market hall, investigations will continue today into the cause of
the blaze.
Scores of stalls and tons of produce were destroyed at a time when the
traders would be hoping to take advantage of increasing business during the Christmas
build-up.
Traders at the market last night described the fire as 'catastrophic' and
many were too shocked to discuss their future.
One, Mr Charles Russell, of Upton, who ran a cooked meat stall, said: "I
feel as though I were in the middle of a nightmare. I have lost in the region of £6,000
in stock and equipment, but the fire brigade managed to save £200 in cash fram a safe at
my stall."
Butcher, Mr Bill Baker, of District Butchers who operate several stores on
the market, was last night desperately trying to get in touch with his company director
who is abroad at a business conference.
"I don't know how much we have lost as yet" he said.
Another butcher only last week stocked his stall with extra meat for the
Christmas period. "I have now lost it all and it has cost me about £5,000" he
said.
Urgent efforts are being made to find alternative accommodation for the
traders.
But after the meeting last night between the traders and Wirral council
representatives at which no agreement was reached, the stallholders will discuss the
situation again on Wednesday and will have another meeting with the council at the end of
the week. |
An artists' pen-sketch of the market as it was
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Memories of blitz as wind fanned the
flames |
A DAILY POST reporter watching from the roof of a building only ten yards
from the blaze as firemen fought it said "This was the biggest fire I have reported
in more than 40 years experience. It reminded one of the wartime blitz fires and, in
particular, the one which engulfed the old Custom house in Liverpool which could be seen
for miles.
"The glow from the blazing market could be seen from all the high points
in Wirral and the bird's-eye view from short range was astonishing.
"The one-acre area of the market hall was literally a sea of flame and
at times the water sprayed down by firemen gave the effect of geysers in action with steam
and smoke rising more than 50 feet into the air.
"While firemen battled to control the blaze from all vantage points,
some of them perched on turntable ladders within a very short distance of the doomed
building, were eerily lit against the orange background.
"A near-gale wind carried the flames from the old Haymarket area of the
town diagonally across the market hall, one of the town's prized Victorian buildings and
an outstanding example of the brick architecture and design of that period." |
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A PLACE TO START |
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Fortunes have been made and found on market stalls, but one of the most
famous success stories must be that of Marks and Spencer, who were tenants in the market
hall at Birkenhead for years.
Michael Marks first set up a market stall at Leeds in the 1890's and moved to
Birkenhead open market in 1901. He amalgamated with Spencer and they were allocated stall
numbers 11 and 12 in the centre aisle in 1903. There they opened the famous Penny Bazaar
which eventually led to Marks and Spencer. The company left the Birkenhead stalls on
February 24, 1923. |
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