Stallholders at a Glasnevin market are pushing to stay on past a January deadline to leave

Many stallholders at the weekly Honest2Goodness market in Glasnevin rely on income from there, says Peter Whelan, who sells pork cuts at the market for his company The Whole Hoggs.

Which is why they were shocked when, in mid-October, they were handed notices of termination by the market’s operator, he said, telling them they would no longer be able to sell at the warehouse on Slaney Close in the Dublin Industrial Estate.

And, why they are fighting those notices, said Whelan. “There has been precedent where people’s livelihoods are affected, we’re not going to be pushed out the door. We still feel we can negotiate an agreement.”

Earlier this month, solicitors for the stallholders wrote to both Bríd Carter, the director of Honest2Goodness market, and to Hibernia Real Estate Group, which until recently owned the property.

Stallholders argue in those letters that the notices aren’t valid, as they haven’t seen proof that Carter had a written lease or licence for the building. And they sought permission from Hibernia to stay an extra nine months in the industrial estate, as they search around for somewhere new to set up.

So far, their search has been fruitless, said Adam Hoban, the owner of C+H Café, who has been put in charge of finding a new place. “There’s literally nothing. Units come up on the market and they’re gone a week later.”

Carter did not respond to queries including whether they would grant extra time in the industrial estate to the stallholders.

A spokesperson for Hibernia, previously known as Hibernia REIT, responded to say that it had sold the building. It is still registered as the landowner, but there is a pending application with the Property Registration Authority, lodged 20 November 2023, to register the new owner as an investment fund called E to Infinity ICAV.

Closing up

Stallholders were given their notices of termination on 18 October, telling them that their informal licence to trade at the market would terminate on 8 January 2024.

On 8 November, Honest2Goodness posted on Facebook. They had loved hosting the market, the post said.

“Unfortunately, the market became difficult to sustain from a personal and business viewpoint in recent years,” it says. Closing had been on the cards for some time, said the post, and stallholders had been told at the beginning of 2023.

Sarah Donegan, who runs Donegan’s Seafood at the market, says she does remember hearing this in January. “The management had brought up that the building was deemed unsafe and the owners of the building wanted to vacate it.”

Hoban said they had been told then that it would close in a week or two. “There was a bit of a riot kicked up by everyone and nothing was done. So everyone kind of thought, grand, the market is safe.”

Said Donegan: “We engaged back with management and we never heard another thing. It was like it never happened.” Until the termination notice last month, she said.

“It’s very frustrating at the moment, to have someone try to take your business from under you,” says Donegan. “Eight weeks isn’t viable for anyone to uproot the business.”

Busier and busier

Fuelling frustration from stallholders is the fact that the market, they say, has been so busy.

The Honest2Goodness market has run out of 136a Slaney Close since 2009. Twenty-five businesses sell fresh fruit and vegetables, plants and flowers, meats, coffees, cakes and more on Saturdays.

Hoban, the owner of C+H Café, has had a stall there since 2017, he says. A typical Saturday would attract more than 3,000 customers to the market, says Hoban.

“It’s a huge meeting point, a hub for locals and particularly it’s the local people that keep that network alive,” Hoban says. “At three o’clock you’re nearly having to push them out the door.”

Customers and stallholders have together built the market to the success it sees today, he says. “We’ve built friendships over the years, we know their names.”

Also, once news of the closure was flagged on Dublin Live and the Irish Independent, turnover at the market increased by 30 or 40 percent, says Hoban.

In the solicitor’s letter to Carter, the stallholders say they would be willing to sign any waivers to make sure that she has no liability after she departs – and enable them to deal directly with the landlord themselves.

Hoban says that ultimately – even if the notices’ deadlines are too soon – relocation does seem like a natural step for the market, as the building needs major repairs.

To stay, says Walsh, “There would need to be half a million invested in the building.”

But maybe they could come to an agreement with the landlords that the repair costs are added into the rent.

Changes coming

There are considerable changes likely ahead at the Dublin Industrial Estate.

In the last three years, Dublin city councillors have rezoned swathes of industrial land across the city, mostly to encourage the construction of more housing.

Now, Dublin City Council is drawing up a local area plan (LAP) for the Glasnevin estate and the wider area – which would then smooth the way for rezoning and redevelopment.

In late April and May, the council ran a consultation around what should be prescribed in that plan for the lands. A few submissions noted the importance of the Honest2Goodness market for the community.

Hoban says there should be a long-term view to integrate the market with any redevelopment. “Removing what is a community meeting place doesn’t seem like the most logical idea in terms of sustainable development.”

Whelan, of The Whole Hoggs, said that since there are “a good few years” between now and any redevelopment, there’s time to include a farmer’s market space into the plans for the area.

Indeed, Séamas McGrattan, a Sinn Féin councillor, said it’s likely the plan for the site will see a mix of residential and commercial development, which should help businesses there grow.

Feljin Jose, Green Party candidate for Cabra-Glasnevin, says that the local area plan will “come with requirements for commercial spaces, creches, community spaces etc. It’s never going to be 100% housing”.

What’s being proposed in the local area plan is “a sustainable mixed-use regeneration of the land and an existing market could certainly play a part in that”, he said.

“It’s currently a valuable amenity and part of the community and could be preserved as such for the future community,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a binary choice between housing and a market.”

For now, Cat O’Driscoll, a Social Democrats councillor for the area, says that since rezoning is such a long process, she doubts that it is a cause for the farmer’s market to lose their space.

But if the Honest2Goodness stall holders aren’t able to hold on to their current locations somehow, both McGratten and Jose say they’ve been on to the council to help find another venue for the market.

Jose says he and Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan have asked the council to facilitate traders at Broadstone Plaza.

Councillors on two committees passed motions earlier this year backing the creation of a market there. Council managers said at the time that there were no plans to set one up.

But they were planning to review the casual trading by-laws this year, they said, with the plaza being included for consideration as a new designated casual trading location.

In early October, a council spokesperson said, “It is planned to bring forward a review of the Casual Trading Bye Laws 2013 in the coming months.”

Pushing to stay longer

Walsh, of The Whole Hoggs, says stallholders felt no choice but to get legal help because their livelihoods were at stake, and they wanted to establish the facts in the midst of a confusing situation and wash of conflicting information.

Stallholders pay rent to Champagnes Unlimited Limited, which is registered at the market’s address with Bríd Carter as one of the directors.

The solicitor’s letter to Carter argues that two-months’ notice is grossly inadequate, and that it isn’t valid, as they don’t think she has a written lease – and so an interest in the property that would give her the authority to terminate the contract.

Carter hasn’t responded to that letter. Neither had Hibernia, to the solicitors’ letter arguing that stallholders have the right to have six more months trading there, and then a three months’ notice period, said Walsh on 21 November.

“We are trying to stay strong as a collective,” says Walsh. “There’s absolutely no way we’re going in two months.”

“Our prerogative is to stay in the building that we’re in,” says Donegan. “This is where we’ve established our businesses.”

Hoban, meanwhile, continues to search for a new location, he says.“Looking actively at any leads from customers and just going out looking, talking to landlords, agents, see what’s out there, what we can get from January onwards.”

Somewhere with at least 500sqm, and proper electrical, plumbing, toilets, or at least potential to install utilities.

And, ideally, in Glasnevin, so they can keep their customers, he says. If the market moves, customers may not follow, he says.

“A lot of people won’t travel another 30 minutes up the road. It’s an added ask, especially if you don’t drive,” he says.

He’s still hopeful that something will come up if they spread the word, he says. “Someone will know someone that has a unit somewhere.”