I know I, first went up there in about ‘94, that was my first time to go anywhere near the Swan.
When I actually started working there, it was a, it was great little place, there was great cama, camaraderie amongst the, erm, stall-holders. Everybody knew everybody. Erm, you know, you had your bakery, you had your chippie, you had your little restaurants, you had some good little, little r, eateries down the bottom. Erm, some nice kid’s clothes stalls around there. Erm, it was just a shame, I think the main thing was, it was the, all the talk of the re-developments and people were constantly on about, oh, Sainsbury’s were going to re-develop over the road and the market would close but, or there’d be a link, the market refurbished’
It was getting …more run-down. Erm… stalls were closing, they weren’t being re-let ‘cause people just didn’t, erm… the rents, the rents weren’t exactly high… they were, because it was an all-inclusive rent. You had your heating, your electricity and all of that included. Erm, but, if you weren’t making the money, it didn’t matter whether it was ten pound a week, if you weren’t taking it, you couldn’t afford it.
Mm.
You know, because you had to have a wage and you had to buy your stock and whatever. And it was just gradually getting harder and harder for people… to make that living.
And… and that, that was the universal feeling amongst all the stall-holders?.
That was the universal feeling. You know, everybody was feeling the same, everybody was feeling the pinch.
And then Tesco came into the mix and then it all went …completely the other way and then, obviously, Tesco won, the bid… and… closed it all down for the re-development.
There was lots of anger, huge anger towards erm Tesco. Yeah, because a lot of people didn’t want to leave.
Mm.
You know, even though it was hard, and it was hard to make the rent. Erm, but lots of people felt that, erm, Tesco were the cause of everything. You know, it was all Tesco’s fault.
Yeah.
And erm, there was, and there was a hell of a lot of resentment towards Tesco.
