New greengrocers at Knutsford Market standing by the fruit and veg

Knutsford Market Hall welcomes a new greengrocer

Peter and Gaynor Riley of Heathfield Nursery have opened a greengrocer stall in Knutsford Market Hall offering fresh vegetables and fruit alongside bedding plants and seasonal cut flowers.

Gaynor Riley said,  “We are delighted to be joining the Knutsford Market Hall family. 2024 marks both the market’s 60th anniversary and the exciting redevelopment plans. Many people will already know us from our Heathfield Nursery in Plumley. We can’t wait to be in the heart of the town offering both homegrown and locally sourced fruit and vegetables alongside our range of bedding plants and cut flowers. We look forward to welcoming both new and old customers”.

Sandra Curties, Town Centre Manager said, “We are delighted to have Peter and Gaynor on board.  A greengrocer is an essential part of our market hall offering and we know our customers will give them both a warm welcome. They will be offering a wide range of fruit and vegetables with much of it homegrown which is fantastic.  A true shop local experience!”

Knutsford Market Hall is open on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 8am to 4pm.   Permanent traders are as follows –The Market Butcher,  The Market Café, The Market Hall Barber, Slipped Discs and Nyx Cat Crystals. There is also one pop-up stall – Knutsford Sports Exchange. Due to the pending refurbishment, the market is currently only looking for short term pop-ups.  If interested, please email hello@knutsfordmarket.co.uk with details of your stall.

Two greengrocers stood by a bedding plant stall
A CGI render of the revised frontage to the market hall

Market Hall Planning Application Submitted

Plans for the renovation of Knutsford Market Hall have taken a step forward with the submission of the planning application, which is due to be determined by 25th March 2024.

The application, reference 24/0336M, was prepared by Knutsford based Hive Architects on behalf of Knutsford Town Council and sets out proposals for the major remodelling of the front to the market. The refurbished market hall will benefit from a large, glazed front and new rooflights to flood the building with natural light.

The works will create a modern and flexible trading space with a central section of demountable seating and stalls to create an open hall which will be used for events and community uses outside trading hours.

The materials for the redesigned front have been influenced by the Knutsford Design Guide which specifies traditional materials of brick, wood and slate to be used. The brick has been selected to fit in with the exposed brickwork near Silk Mill Street and will include raking soldier courses around the gables and alternate projecting brick courses to add interest and depth to the façade.

The proposals include a number of measures to enhance the environmental sustainability of the building, including a sedum roof, solar panels, an air-source heat pump to provide heating and the installation of insulation. The market will feature bifold and automatic doors enabling the frontage to be open during the summer but retain heat during the winter.

This project has received £720,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Community Ownership Fund.

“Knutsford Market Hall was built in 1964 and as it celebrates its diamond anniversary it will be having a major renovation to ensure its ongoing vitality. These proposals will create a bright and flexible trading space and enable the building to be used more efficiently for the community” said Town Clerk, Adam Keppel-Green.

“Whilst the planning application is being determined we’re now working with our structural engineer and architect on the technical design of the building and developing the design of the internal stall structures”

“We are also working with our traders on the plans to relocate the market into 60 King Street when works take place ensuring our businesses can continue to trade with minimal interruption”.  Adam added.

Knutsford Market Hall remains open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8am to 4pm where customers can find a butcher, greengrocer, crystals, records, thai food, a café, barbers and mobile phone repairs. The market is hosting a variety of pop-up stalls which are promoted on social media.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus

The Town Mayor, trustees and residents of the Marjorie Hurst almshouses gather to unveil the new plaque

Philanthropist behind Knutsford almshouses honoured with blue plaque

A blue plaque dedicated to the founder of a local almshouse charity has been unveiled on Silk Mill Street.

Town Mayor, Councillor Peter Coan, and former Town Mayor Valerie Young JP MBE, the longest serving Trustee of the Charity, cut the ribbon to unveil the new plaque dedicated to Marjorie Hurst.

The Charity of Marjorie Hurst provides almshouses for older residents of Knutsford and owns a row of flats and cottages on Silk Mill Street. The plaque was installed following extensive research by Jenny Collis of Knutsford Heritage Centre into the origin of the town centre almshouses and the life of Marjorie Hurst.

“We knew very little about Marjorie Hurst and how she established the almshouses so we are delighted with the research put in by Jenny Collis and the support from the Town Council in providing the plaque which is now there for everyone to see” said Rick Dallimore, the Chair of Trustees.

The plaque commemorates Marjorie Hurst who was a spinster and life-long Knutsfordian who spent much of her life looking after her parents. Her father, Frederick Hurst, had been the manager of the Union Bank on King Street but it was through the line of her maternal grandfather that Marjorie inherited property. In her will she left property and money upon trust to the then Knutsford Urban District Council with the bequest that the dwellings she owned on Silk Mill Street be used as “almshouses for the deserving” of the town.

Initially the almshouses were provided rent free to the occupiers, but over time the dwellings fell into disrepair. In the 1980s the Town Council received permission from the Charity Commission to charge the residents a weekly maintenance contribution provided that a separate new trust was set up. The Charity of Marjorie Hurst was established and in the 1990s the Trustees secured a Housing Corporation grant to renovate the four remaining cottages and to build the six flats that exist on Silk Mill Street today.

Town Mayor Cllr Peter Coan said “It was an honour to unveil our new blue plaque honouring the legacy of Marjorie Hurst with the trustees and residents of the charity that bears her name. Through Marjorie’s philanthropy, Knutsford has a charity providing housing to those who might otherwise not be able to afford a home of their own – what a forward-thinking Knutsfordian.”

The Charity of Marjorie Hurst is today managed by a board of five trustees. More information about the charity can be found on their website: www.marjoriehurstcharity.org.uk

The Angel Hotel and a view down King Street

Studies to be undertaken to inform Town Centre Masterplan

The feasibility of a range of changes to Knutsford Town Centre will be explored as part of the Town Council’s work to develop a masterplan for Knutsford Town Centre.

Building on the work of the From Top to Bottom Street report, which was considered in a public consulted in 2020, the Town Council has appointed a team of consultants to develop the proposals further. The work includes:

  1. Modelling the impact of changes to town centre traffic flow from restricting through traffic and creating public squares
  2. Exploring the cost of making these changes and developing a better understanding of the impact works would have on the town
  3. Exploring the cost and impact of upgrading Moorside to an adoptable highway standard
  4. Exploring the cost and traffic impact of creating an new access to Princess Street from King Edward Road
  5. Exploring the feasibility of creating an attractive multi-storey car park on Tatton Street car park
  6. Exploring the costs of creating public squares in Canute Place and Princess Street 
  7. Developing different options for improving the pedestrian experience in the town centre whilst retaining vehicular access

Each of these areas are ideas put forward in the From Top to Bottom Street plan and the output of this work will enable the Town Council to determine if they have merit and could form the basis of a masterplan.

The output of the 2020 consultation had been to call on Cheshire East Council to undertake these feasibility studies directly, but to date they have been unable to allocate the resource needed to take them forward.

“We know that creating a plan for improving the town centre is one of our residents’ top priorities and its therefore one of our top priorities too. This work will take us a step forward and better understand the impact of a range of potential changes” said Cllr Christopher Gray, Chairman of the Town Council’s Town Centre Committee.

This project has received £80,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The output of this work will lead to a public consultation later in 2024 and be used by the council’s Town Centre Masterplan working group to develop the masterplan. 

The Town Council is also looking for those interested in helping develop the wider Town Centre Masterplan to join its working group, anyone interested can email townclerk@kntusfordtowncouncil.gov.uk.