“There are only three traders here now,” says Zulfikar Malkan, who runs one of the last surviving stalls in Eccles Market Hall.
The sign above the building on Church Street, covered in dust, has old wires dangling down across some of the letters.
Zulfikar lives just behind the market hall where he’s worked for decades, but he’s worried whether it has a long-term future.
He says the hall used to be packed with traders, but today it’s a world away from what it once was.
“This is struggling now, it’s quiet and there’s no flow of people. It’s because of the council and the way they have planned this.
“It’s been like this for years, I’ve been trading here for more than 30 years and things are getting worse.”
Across the road, parts of Eccles Shopping Centre are a demolition site.
The council bought the land in 2022 for £4.15m after concerns about growing numbers of empty shops and dwindling footfall.
A massive redevelopment is planned which is aimed at creating a new future for the town.
Demolition work at the shopping centre finally got started in March when the bulldozers rolled in to knock down 14 retail units, the multi-storey car park, and a hall which once housed an indoor market.
Exactly what will replace the shopping centre is still to be decided, but locals in Eccles say the town needs an outdoor market to bring some life back.
Putting it bluntly, 71-year-old Chris Mulgrew said: “I think it’s s***e. I’m from Salford but I’ve lived here for 22 years.
“They need a big proper market to get more people back. We’re losing our history, every town should have a market.
“We just seem to have food places everywhere now. The little market [market hall] used to be good, it’s gone down just like all the shops, it’s ridiculous.”
Eccles resident Joan Stubbs added: “There’s nothing here now, we need an open market like it used to have where we can get bargains and bump into people we know.
“I used to love the market, it used to be packed with people, but I just can’t see it coming back. I don’t know what’s happening with all this work going on.”
Spending a few hours talking to locals in the town, it was clear there’s a glum feeling about the future.
In some ways, the town should be one the best places to live in Salford – it’s got a proud history and strong identity, with its own Metrolink stop and train station in the centre.
But people here remember Eccles as a thriving community, and it’s a vision they have yet to see return.
Pat Gallagher, 84, said: “We like a market, we always go to Bury market when we’re in Bury.
“They used to do all sorts in Eccles market, we used to go and get bits and bobs before we came home. I’d like to see them bring back a big market, it’s the community and people meet there and have a cup of tea.”
Donna Donoghue, a volunteer at a charity shop in Eccles Shopping Centre, added: “Everyone came here for the market, it was brilliant, but now some people can’t travel far for their shopping unless they get a taxi.
“There’s nothing to come here for now, I wouldn’t come here shopping.”
Back in the Market Hall on Church Street, butcher Paul Davies is another trader still plugging along.
“Eccles is a traditional market town, we’d get more people in if there was a bit of a market here,” he said.
“It’s not very busy, we have regular customers and I do okay, it could just do with a bit of an open market, even if it was for three or four days a week, it gets more people in.”
Zulfikar added: “I think local people in Eccles do want to have a market, but the problem is parking, there is nowhere for them to go and everyone has a car, they just go to a big supermarket instead.
“This was the original market, it had a charter but it just went away.
“There were about 35 traders back in the day, it’s sad how Eccles has changed.
“I’m local, I live here just at the back of the market, it means a lot to me, but now I’m just managing to survive.”
Salford council said all options are on the table for the town’s future.
Mike McCusker is uniquely aware of the crossroads Eccles has arrived at, as a local councillor for the ward and the council’s cabinet member for development.
He says whatever plans are drawn up, local people will be at the heart of it.
“We have always been clear about our approach to the redevelopment of Eccles town centre,” he said.
“We’ve followed our plan of working with residents to understand the current issues, developing a shared vision with the community, purchasing the shopping centre to put the future of the town centre in the hands of the council and the community, demolishing the parts of the town centre that residents have told us don’t work, then seeking a developer partner to work with us to help create a new future for the town centre.
“As local residents will have seen, we’re currently at the demolition phase.
“We’ve worked closely with retailers and stall holders from the market hall and supported some to relocate elsewhere in the town centre, and there still is a market provision in Eccles, with the Eccles Indoor Market operating opposite Aldi on Church Street.
“It’s now about understanding more about the future needs of local residents and with regards to future plans, all options are still on the table, but it’s about ensuring that whatever happens in the town centre, it must be fit for purpose and for the future.
“The next steps will be to confirm a developer partner, which we hope to do in the coming months.
“Then we will also go back out to the community to once again gather their views, which will help us bring a shared vision for the future of Eccles to life.”
