A vision to breathe new life into the famous Victorian Market in the heart of Inverness is expected to be given the go-ahead next week.
Revamped entrances and shop fronts, longer opening hours, a restaurant and hosting events could all be pursued as part of the action plan.
A new market manager could also be recruited to drive forward the upgrade, with a management group established to deliver the blueprint.
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The future of the B-listed shopping centre hit the headlines at the end of 2015 when traders reacted furiously to plans to privatise its management.
A working group was established to try draw up alternative proposals to address the challenges and maximise its opportunities available to the market, which is owned by the Inverness Common Good Fund and managed by the council.
Its recommendations will now go before the local authority’s Inverness Area Committee on Monday.
Priorities include making the market’s entrances more attractive, starting with Academy Street, and extending operating hours to include Sundays from 10am to 4pm, and from 6pm to 7pm from Mondays to Fridays, as part of a trial that would run until October.
Ideas in the action plan also include using the market for special events, exhibitions and performances, opening a restaurant, reconfiguring the main hall, removing central units and having a strategy on the mix of tenants.
David Richardson, Highlands and Islands development manager at the Federation of Small Businesses, was a member of the working group.
He said: “The importance of Inverness city centre as a trading hub has taken a severe beating in recent years thanks to competition from out-of-town shopping centres and the internet.
“However, instead of standing King Canute-like on the shore, struggling in vain to hold the tide of inevitable change back, it’s time that the centre thought more radically.
“Rather than trying to compete head-to-head with the vast national chains, there is an opportunity for retailers in the centre to focus on the local, the unique and the special.
“Where better to start the transition than in the Victorian Market?
“I was delighted to participate in the steering group and even more so with its recommendations and I very much hope that they are supported by the council.”
