HORWICH Market is set to close after a £20,000 study failed to come up with ways to save it.

Consultants were paid to identify ways to keep a market in Horwich, but Bolton Council said none of their suggestions would work.

Now, after £20,000 was spent consulting professionals, council chiefs have decided to ask traders and shoppers for ideas to save the market.

Last year, Horwich Town Council was told it should spend its £50,000 from the District Centre Improvement Fund — a grant from Bolton Council — on market improvements.

A fifth of the cash, along with £10,000 from Bolton Council’s corporate budget, was spent on a feasibility study by consultants Leslie Jones Architects.

The report looked at six options, including moving the market to St John Street, having a canopy market, a temporary market that could be moved around, or closing the market in Curteis Street without replacing it.

It was estimated relocating the market to a new building would cost between £760,000 and £1.4 million.

Malcolm Vegas, assistant director of environmental services, said: “The current market is suffering from a severe lack of TLC.

“It has 102 stalls and 21 pitches, but on market days there are on average 27. It has an annual deficit of £30,000.”

See the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Bolton News