The Changing Face of Chester Market Hall

When bad things happen to good cities: the changing face of Chester Market Hall

market hall and town hall

arkets are historically seen as the hub of the community and Chester Market is no exception, for centuries playing a central role in the business and cultural life of the city, a regular market having taken place here since at least the year 1139. The farmers and country folk would drive their livestock and carry their goods into the town and many set up their stalls in what has long been known as Market Square, but now more commonly Town Hall Square. The famous watercolourist Louise Rayner captured something of the atmosphere of these events during the nineteenth century in her fine painting of the then-new Town Hall.

Around that time, though, some were expressing unhappiness at the less-than-orderly nature of the market, as may be read in this extract from 1836 edition of The Chester Guide..

the old exchange "The state of the markets was until very lately highly discreditable to the City of Chester. The meat market consisited of a collection of covered wooden stalls crowded together on the north of the Exchange (the former Town Hall, illustrated left, which burned down in 1862. Learn more about it here) - and universally kept in a very filthy condition; and a similar nuisance on the south side of the Exchange served for a fish market, whilst vegetables, fruits and flowers were scattered in complete confusion throughout the piazza and along the front of the building. The dealers in poultry and butter displayed their commodities in Eastgate Street, occasionally shifting from the street to the rows according to the state of the weather, very much to the invonvenience of the inhabitants and passengers. But the frequent complaints of citizens have induced the corporation to accomodate the city with markets befitting this wealthy and antient town- the erection of the new markets was commenced in 1826... the fish and vegetable market is in the south side, that for butter on the east and the meat and poultry on the north. It is also intended to erect a market for potatoes nearer to the Northgate. The new markets are built of brick and roofed in and lighted from the top, and open on all sides. When finished, they will no doubt prove an ornament to the city".

The various Chester Improvement Acts of the 1840s led to further changes and soon these 'ornamental' market buildings had given way to a more centralised structure, the original Chester Market Hall- seen in our photograph at the top of the page- built in a cheerful baroque revival style in 1863, replacing three venerable inns that had long occupied its site- The White Lion (for over two centuries Chester's premier coaching inn), The Saracen's Head and The Boot Tavern.
Its presence doubtlessly influenced the design of the new Town Hall, commenced two years later, in 1865, with which it harmonised wonderfully (see top photograph). You may be interested to see these pictures of the market's interior in its final years, sometime during the 1960s (we will be adding more of these when time allows...)

chester market Here is possibly one of the last photographs taken of the Victorian Market Hall, just before it was unforgivably demolished in the early 1970s, to be replaced by the truly abominable structure illustrated on the right, known as The Forum, designed by Michael Lyall Associates, and seen here just before it in turn was partially demolished a mere quarter of a century later, in 1995. It comprised shops on the ground floor and council offices above.

What could have possessed the planners and politicians of the time to allow such a monstrosity to be erected directly opposite a medieval cathedral in the heart of one of Europe's most historic cities? The comments of a contributor to the Cheshire Sheaf, way back in 1879, still seem apt: "In some cases the architectural name which Chester has owned for years will soon be obliterated and become a sore subject to future antiquaries and students. These cases are those of tradesmen [and doubtless, politicians] whose chief aim, in this money-making age (and wishing to retire from business to be "the gentlemen”), is to keep the cost down. Such men care not an atom about the outside, so long as the inside of the premises be enticing. These restorers employ a builder to throw together a structure of the meanest external character: the builder has his dummy who, for a consideration, manufactures drawings, I was going to say designs, by the dozens; one, most likely the cheapest, is selected by the client, and the building is put together...”

Dummies indeed. Further fine views of both the old and new buildings may be seen here, here and here is a 1930s photo of a military parade outside the old Market Hall.

It was ironic that the building's name was designed to provide a link with Chester's Roman origins when so much of the city's Roman heritage was destroyed during the course of its construction- most notably the so-called Elliptical Building, a structure the like of which has never been found anywhere else in the Roman Empire.

The Black & White Picture Place