Monument record 10082 - The Modern Market: Public Market House

The public market hall at Northgate Street was built in 1863 to house the general market stalls. Designed by WH & JM Hay of Liverpool the building was located on the west side of Northgate Street and comprised a large hall with permanent bays around the edges. The hall was divided into three aisles by cast iron columns and roofed with iron girders and glass. The stone facade was built in the baroque fashion. The original internal arrangement placed the butchers and provision dealers in stalls around the sides, fishmongers to the right of the entrance and crockery dealers to the rear. The open centre was occupied by farm, market and fruit dealers. (1)

Extensions were made to the original building in the 1880s with the addition of a new Victorian Gothic facade linking it with the town hall added in 1882 and a second extension to the rear in 1886 for vegetables and cheese. The chapel in the south west corner of the building (CHER 10043) was later converted into a fish market in 1898. The building survived until 1967 when it was demolished as part of the central redevelopment programme. (1)

A small section of the front facade survives in the passageway between the Dublin Packet and the Forum Shopping Centre.

<1> Lewis C.P & Thacker A.T. (eds), 2005, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume Vii, The City of Chester - The City of Chester, Culture, Buildings, Institutions (Book). SCH6522.