By Stefan Morkis

TRADERS WORKING at Dens Road Market in Dundee have been left fuming after the building’s owner announced plans to demolish the market to clear space for new homes.

Stallholders, many of whom have been trading from Dens Road Market for decades, only discovered that its owner, Joe Carroll, was intending to demolish the building after reading about it in Tuesday’s edition of The Courier.

The market was opened in 1969 by six local traders following the closure of Green Market a few years beforehand.

Mr Carroll, the son of one of the original traders, says that there is no one in his family to take over the business if he steps down and that the market is suffering because of competition from car boot sales.

He has applied for planning permission to knock down the market and build 31 three-bedroom houses and 12 two- bedroom flats on the site of the market and the nearby former Dens Metals factory.

However, one irate stallholder said that they, and all their colleagues had been kept in the dark about Mr Carroll’s plans.

“The market has been open for 35 years and some of the stallholders have been there for decades,” said the stallholder.

“He never had the decency to tell us about his plans. We weren’t given any warning at all.”

The stallholder added that if Dens Road Market does close, then it could have a serious knock-on effect.

“His architect said that car boot sales were forcing it to close, but a lot of traders use them to buy goods.

“They also use auctioneers in Dundee, so they could suffer too. A lot of landlords buy furniture from the market as well.

“People just don’t know where they stand now. If they weren’t making money then they wouldn’t be doing the job.

“We need help and hopefully the council might be able to find another site for use so we can open up a new Dundee market.”

Mr Carroll was unavailable for comment yesterday.