A MARKET trader forced to leave Bolton Market Hall last year is back in business in the town centre.
Peter Elliott, aged 35, ran Kids Connection, a children's clothing stall, at the market hall until January last year.
At that time, more than 50 businesses were forced out of the market hall to make way for the new Market Place Shopping Centre expansion.
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Mr Elliott, whose mother and father ran the stall for 25 years, moved his business to Bury but has now returned to Bolton, taking a shop in Oxford Street which is next to Mothercare.
He said: "We were disgruntled with the way we left the Market Hall but we believe in Bolton and have found a new site."
The shop, which opens today, sells discounted chain store children's clothes.
Mr Ellliott, from Blackburn, tried to move the business to the Ashburner Street market but was told there was no room there. He believes the leasing price for units in the new Market Place is too high for him.
Kids Connection staff from Bolton who had travelled to Bury during the past year are happy to be back working in their home town.
Mr Elliott said: "We could have made them redundant but were able to transfer them to Bury. It is good for them that we are back in Bolton, as well as myself."
Rod Neasham, Market Place manager, welcomed Kids Connection's return.
He said: "We offered Mr Elliott the opportunity to stay in the Market Hall but he wasn't able to take it up.
"I would welcome anybody coming back into Bolton. Taking over an empty shop unit has got to be good."
The £40 million Market Hall renovation is being completed by new owners Warner Estate, which says it will create 200 jobs.
Big retailers that have signed up for units at the hall include Starbucks, Principles, Warehouse and Lush.
Around 70,000 people signed a petition against the hall's redevelopment.
But Mr Neasham believed change of some kind was inevitable: "The market hall isn't the same as when it was built in 1885. It changed during the 1900s and it has changed again. Every 20 or 30 years it changes to reflect the current shopping trends."
The centre is projected to be finished by October, in time for Christmas trade.
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