IT has been six months since Newton Abbot’s temporary market opened in the Market Square and traders are expressing concerns about lack of footfall.

Newton Abbot’s temporary indoor market officially opened in October 2024.

Around six months later and traders have expressed their concerns about the drop in trade , with some saying their takings are down by more than half.

‘I’d have 25 jobs in a day before, now I might get five - it is really quiet’ says Colette Paver of Pins and Needles Sewing Alterations.

‘It is a shame, people just don't come through the door.

‘It is not that the council haven't done stuff for us, they re-homed us, but the general public just aren't coming in.

‘We are taking things a week at a time at the moment.

‘Saturdays sometimes get a bit busy, but it is not enough

‘Everybody is a bit flat’ Colette added.

It is not clear how many traders will move into the new Market Hall once the refurbishment work is completed next year, but several expressed concern that the rents will be too expensive.

Moreover, the Mid-Devon Advertiser also heard concerns from traders about the lack of space they say they will have should they choose to move back to the Market Hall once it reopens.

Diane Smith of Newton Phone Repairs said takings were down by more than half compared to the same time last year.

‘What frustrates me, having been going for nearly 20 years, and I have done the high street, the Market Square, everywhere, it is a void’ Diane said.

‘I don't know what it is with the Market Square, but it is a void.

‘We can't even get the buskers to come to the square - I don't know what you can do to improve that.

Diane says she does not plan to move back into the Market Hall once the work is finished as she says she won’t have enough space, having instead to get a shop.

‘If I don't get a shop, I will drop - I don’t want to, because I love the market feel’ Diane said.

Though ‘trying not to be negative’, Jim Ashford of Ashfords Fruit and Veg said that his customer count was down.

A typical Wednesday would see 200 plus customers, but it has been closer to 140 since moving to the former Post Office building.

Kept afloat by its regulars, the long-standing fruit and veg supplier has recently started doing deliveries to the local area.

The redevelopment of the Market Hall will be completed by the middle of 2026, Teignbridge District Council have said.

In the meantime, Newton Abbot’s traders will be at the temporary market hall 9am to 4pm Monday to Saturday.