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The strange death of Levenshulme Market

Levenshulme Market was a local success story, cementing a narrative of a neighbourhood on the rise. For ten years, it ran weekly markets on a council-owned car park near the train station serving everything from craft beer to books, cocktails and gifts, and the market became celebrated for its role as an incubator for small businesses that managed to make the jump from a market stall to a spot on the high street. Then, in 2023, the directors announced that the market would have to cease trading for the rest of the year after a "painful planning permission process" made it impossible for them to proceed, but that they hoped that the market could come back stronger in 2024. It's now 2024, and there are no signs of the market returning anytime soon. Manchester City Council and Levenshulme Market both say they want the market to reopen. So why hasn't it?


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