Struggling tenants in Bradford's markets could have to wait until the end of next year for a new multi-million pound hall to be finished.

Bradford Council today admitted that it could take 21 months for the £3 million redevelopment of John Street market to be complete.

Tenants believed it would start this spring and they would be in the new hall by Easter next year at the latest.

But a Council spokesman said: "We hope to start work by the end of this year and it would take about a year to complete."

The bombshell news came as Lincoln's florists decided to quit its premises in the temporary Rawson Market unit after 40 years in the city centre.

Proprietor David Brook, who says he is being driven out by lack of trade, has built a black flower cross at his shop bearing the words 'RIP Rawson Market'.

Beside the cross he has listed the names of 11 other businesses which have quit the temporary unit since they left the main historic Rawson Market building in the heart of the city.

Traders had expected to be "exiled" for just two years while the building underwent a £6 million refurbishment.

Now that site is empty and the building three quarters demolished because the project failed to materialise. The scheme would have been paid for by the sale of Vicar Lane car park but the developer ran into funding problems and pulled out.

Instead there are plans to redevelop John Street Market and move in the Rawson traders and stall holders from James Street fish market. Rawson and James Street stallholders currently occupy their stands rent free because of the delays.

The Rawson traders have hit out bitterly at Bradford Council and say trade has slumped through lack of passing trade.

And today it emerged the John Street traders face further problems because of the redevelopment of their building which will house all three markets.

Rawson Market butcher Donald Pickup said: "It is very depressing and I hope they will soon be able to get ahead with it, but I would also like them to look at an open air market beside the new hall."

Some existing John Street tenants may have to move temporarily if a new roof and floors are installed. In addition, tenants may have to pay VAT on their rents.

A notice next to Mr Brook's flower cross says: "On March 26, 1996, Rawson Market moved to new, temporary premises for a promised period of two years. We are still waiting for Bradford Council to fulfil its promise. The companies listed all put their trust in Bradford Council.

"How many more businesses will be forced to leave and how many jobs will be lost before the Council acts?"

He said his move to Institution Road, Eccleshill, Bradford, was a direct result of trade lost through the delays.

Mr Brook added that it would be a major wrench to leave the city centre on April 3 after four decades but his takings have fallen by 60 per cent.

He said: "People who came here were looking to two years and expected a down turn in trade. But they were planning ahead and believed they would have started again when the two years were up. Businesses need to be able to plan ahead accurately.

"I gather it could be almost two years now before the market is finished. I am not prepared to stay in the temporary Rawson Market for that time. I wonder how many more jobs will be lost by then - all my staff have gone.

"In the mean time the Council has talked big and delivered nothing."

Chairman of Rawson Market Tenants' Association John Parker said it was a "dreadful list" of businesses which had quit the market.

He said hopes expressed by the Council that work would begin next month were again "pie in the sky."

Richard Mead, secretary of John Street Market Traders' Association, said he hoped contractors would be able to work around stallholders and it would not be necessary to move.

Mr Mead said stallholders were concerned about VAT and would face problems because many may not be registered for it.

"I am obviously disappointed that Mr Brook is having to move. But very slowly things are starting to move and it is all starting to come together," he said.

Councillor Dave Green, regeneration member of the Council's Executive Committee, admitted the problems may have pushed some businesses "over the edge."

But he said the Council was in the process of appointing a contractor and a lot of time had been spent in administration, legal issues and bureaucracy.

"But we have used that time to get it as right for the market traders as possible," he said.

"I know that there is a lot of frustration and real concern among stall holders. We now have a clear timetable and we are trying to ensure progress is as swift as possible."

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