Market Hall boss denies mistakes have been made

Some visitors have said the Market Hall lacks atmosphere

The manager of Derby's Market Hall says she does not believe any mistakes have been made with its reopening.

Following a major refurbishment, the venue welcomed back customers in May but has since been heavily criticised for lacking a traditional market feel and having several unoccupied units.

It also emerged hundreds of traders who had applied for a spot in the hall had been turned away by the city council.

Speaking to BBC Radio Derby, Hana York said she anticipated most units would be occupied by Christmas.

The Market Hall features 43 units with extra space for pop-up stalls but a Freedom of Information request by the BBC found only 29 out of 818 applications for units were accepted.

Derby City Council previously told the BBC it wanted to "carefully curate" stalls, but since reopening at least three traders have left the units.

Ms York said: "Carefully curated for us means offering something different in the city.

"I'm actually quite pleased it hasn't been full, because it's really opened up some opportunities for us to get feedback from the general public."

Ms York said a "huge proportion" of those 818 applications were for "food and hot food in particular", and said the council needed to "minimise internal competition".

"Where, for example, we've already got a pet shop, we wouldn't then look to have somebody else in that wants to do a pet shop or pet products," she said.

The council spent £35m refurbishing the venue before it reopened

On the recent criticism, Ms York said: "It's always the negative minority that have the loudest voice.

"What I find sad, I suppose, because I know how hard the team are working, my team are working seven days a week to make this venue a success, is you always hear from the few that are unhappy.

"I understand the nostalgia that's around it. But Derby wasn't supporting the Market Hall in its previous iteration. It wasn't being successful like other markets around the country.

"We have to listen to those experts in our wider market community who understand that people don't shop the way they used to.

"We think we can change people's minds, and we are here for the long haul."

Hana York says she would like to see the council continue to run the venue

She added she thought there was "pressure from the public" to get the market open but denied any mistakes had been made.

"Not mistakes, I'd have said timings for things haven't always gone our way, building elements haven't always gone our way, but mostly things that were out of anybody's control," she said.

The council has said eight new traders will occupy units in the market "very soon".

Ms York said this could include "children's clothing, beauty, gardening products, vintage and vinyl".

When asked if she thought the council should consider handing the market over to an external operator, Ms York said she hoped that would not happen.

"I think there's value in that being a council-run building," she said.

"One of the things that perhaps the public don't see so much is all that community activity that that space has already been doing and will continue to do and because we're part of the council it makes it much easier for us to do that."