GoogleA firm has been urged to give “devastated” traders more time to operate after a popular city centre food and drinks hub suddenly announced it would be closing.
Hatch, on Manchester’s Oxford Road, is to shut for redevelopment on 30 September after the site was sold to leisure chain Stack.
Current owners Bruntwood said they were working with those affected.
The company has been urged to allow trade to continue until New Year’s Eve.
At a meeting on Friday vendors were told about the decision to sell the site – which also houses clothes sellers and other leisure outlets – and close it for redevelopment until late 2024.
Sacha Lord, who advises Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham on the city’s economy, said: “To be told you’re not going to have your job in four weeks without any warning whatsoever is awful.
“As a starting point, Bruntwood should sit down with the operators and as a bare minimum allow them to trade till New Year’s Eve.
“That would help them clawback some cash but also give them time to plan.”
Hatch trader Stevie Wise, 37, who runs a nail art outlet called It’s a Nail Thing, said: “We’re all devastated.”
Stevie Wise Ms Wise, who has been trading at the Oxford Road site for two years, told how she had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and is due to have surgery later this month.
“This has come at the absolute worst time. My diagnosis really limits the type of work I can do – I can’t get a job because no one’s going to employ me at the moment”, she told the BBC.
“I don’t know when I’m next going to be able to work. It’s really going to impact my life.”
She said Bruntwood had arranged a meeting with her this week.
“They will be trying to do the right thing by me but what that means is not clear at the moment,” she said.
Hair stylist Danielle Davies, who has run Industry Collectives on the site for the last four years, has not been in work since Friday as she has not been “in the right headspace”.
She said: “I had no idea that they were even looking at selling the business, I had just signed a new contract with them on the 22 August, so this has been a massive shock.
“My whole weekend has been awful, I’ve tried to call so many estate agents and I’ve just been turned away by so many. I just don’t know what the next step is.”
Mr Lord, who is also the co-creator of the Parklife festival and The Warehouse Project, offered to employ anyone affected at his businesses.
“So far we’ve had 11 people take up my offer, which is great but I just feel for everyone impacted by this decision”, he said.
“Summer is very, very hard in Manchester as we’ve got the biggest student population in Europe, so to trade through that and then snatch the golden period away from them, which is October November, December when all the students come back seems incredibly unfair.”
‘Future opportunities’
Stack, which is part of the Danieli Group, confirmed all food and beverage traders at Hatch would be given “priority during the selection process if they choose to apply for a unit within the newly created Stack when it reopens”.
Although primarily a food and leisure site, the BBC understands there will also be a limited number of retail units and discussions around “potential opportunities in future” are ongoing.
Peter Bearpark, asset management director at Bruntwood, said Hatch had been “a success in terms of the vision we set out for it”.
“It’s always hard to say goodbye to a site that we are proud of, but now is the right time for Stack to take it to the next stage in its development”, he added.
Neill Winch, CEO of Stack, said: “We look forward to building on the great work Hatch has already done and taking it to the next level under the Stack brand.”
Grub, another Manchester food and drinks hub, also urged affected traders to contact them.
