AN artist who spent much of his childhood helping out on his dad’s stall on Farnworth Market has created a photographic tribute to its final days.

Benjamin Nuttall could often be found lending a hand on the jewellery stall his dad, Tom, ran from 1979 until its eventual closure in February last year.

And the 21-year-old says a desire to capture the spirit of the market inspired him to create what he calls a ‘homage’ to the last three months of its life.

The work, entitled Farnworth Market//No Access, features evocative black and white images of the market, and the traders and customers who brought it alive.

Benjamin said: “It’s not just the market, but the community that was there and had always been there, that was my driving force to document the final days there.

“For a lot of the older community that was there it was the only social interaction together.

`”That was the older community’s go-to place. I think there’s still a few who arrange to meet up on days the market used to be on and go to a café nearby.

“At the end I wanted to build this publication to show there’s still life and community there. There’s absolutely still life despite the market closing.”

The market closed to make way for a new retail development but work has yet to begin on the regeneration project.

A plan to relocate traders to a new area of the town’s Market Precinct fell through due to a lack of interest.

Benjamin says he was sad to see the market go and that nothing has yet been built in its place. He added: “The saddest thing is the promise of something coming in its place and nothing being delivered, to get rid of all those businesses that have been there for so long and there’s nothing in its place bar a pile of rubble.”

Farnworth Market//No Access is a 44-page limited run publication printed on 170gsm silk paper available through benjaminnuttall.com/farnworth-market-no-access.

You can also find out more about Benjamin’s work at benjaminnuttall.com