Market cafe to close after nine years

A cafe in Grimsby's Top Town market is getting ready to close after nine years.

A Priest a Mill and a Ferry is one of the cafes that cannot move to a temporary market while regeneration work is completed.

The cafe's owner, Paul, said he was given just over three weeks' notice.

North East Lincolnshire Council said it had held discussions with traders and offered "a full support package to assist them to transition going forward".

The market is due to close on Saturday as part of the council's £50m plan to revamp the Freshney Place shopping centre.

The renovation will include a new food hall and market alongside a five-screen cinema and is due to begin next month.

Market traders will move into a temporary space in April in the One Beyond store, which is due to leave Freshney Place, but the cafes cannot move there due to a lack of facilities.

Paul has run A Priest a Mill and a Ferry for nine and a half years.

He told BBC Radio Humberside: "It is really sad. It's a part of the community. The cafes here haven't been asked to move to the temporary market and there aren't facilities there for cafes. They gave us three weeks notice".

Shopper Susan Parniyan said: "It's heartbreaking really. The two cafes have said there is nowhere for them. We come every market day.

"It is really sad. Not only are we losing the stalls but we are losing friends. It's like a community that is disappearing".

Council leader Philip Jackson said: "We know there will be short term disruption, but the result [of the Freshney Place development] will transform the town centre and deliver new shopping and leisure options for our residents.

"I'm really pleased that lots of traders have chosen to come across to the temporary market, and I'm sure it will be welcomed by shoppers to have this available as soon as practically possible."

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.