The Municipal Markets Board this morning approved a 14,200-florin allocation for the permanent repair of Bramblegate Market’s eastern wing roof, damaged by March gales on 4 March. Work is expected to begin within a fortnight.

Market Warden Phillip Catton presented the allocation request with the methodical precision for which he is known: 8,400 florins for a galvanised-iron roof section, 2,800 for replacement timber joists and cross-bracing, 1,600 for drainage remediation, and 1,400 for stall-holder compensation covering the period of disruption.

“We have been trading under canvas for fourteen days,” Catton told the Board. “The canvas has held. But canvas is not a roof, and a fish market requires a roof.”

The allocation was approved without dissent. The Board also authorised Catton to engage Hallam & Stroud to oversee the structural work, on the basis that the firm is already present in the Docklands for the Harbourfront Parade shoring operation and can mobilise quickly.

All fourteen eastern wing stalls have been trading since 11 March, when the last three — Alderman’s Shellfish, Mrs Gowan’s Herbs, and Cartwright’s Brassware — returned beneath the heavy canvas temporary covering installed on 6 March. Customer numbers have recovered to approximately 85 per cent of pre-storm levels, though Catton noted that foot traffic on rainy mornings remains “notably reduced.”

“People do not linger in a market when it is raining through a canvas patch,” he said. “This is not surprising.”

Neville Alderman, who has sold shellfish from the eastern wing for thirty-one years, was philosophical. “I’ve traded through worse,” he said. “But I’d like a proper roof over my head before the April rains.”

The permanent repair is expected to take approximately three weeks once work begins. Catton said stall holders would not be required to vacate during construction, as the work can be staged in sections. “We intend to keep the market open throughout,” he said. “That is not a hope. That is the plan.”

The 14,200-florin allocation is drawn from the Markets Board’s capital maintenance reserve, which Catton confirmed stands at 61,000 florins — sufficient for this repair without affecting the Board’s other scheduled maintenance work for the year.

The eastern wing roof, originally installed in 1964, had not been fully replaced since a partial repair in 1998. Catton acknowledged that the gale damage, while severe, had revealed pre-existing deterioration in several timber joists.

“We should have caught this sooner,” he said. “We will not make that observation twice.”