Traders in Shipley have welcomed a change of management at the town’s indoor market hall.

HALE (Health Action Local Engagement) has been running the Kirkgate site for the last year.

But the market’s management will now be transferred back to the landlord of the building, London & Associated Properties (LAP) from tomorrow.

HALE said it had utilised the market in different ways, making use of empty space and improving the look of the site during its time in charge.

Traders have welcomed the announcement, claiming Hale did not do enough to promote the market to shoppers.

Pearl Dawson, owner of the Sweet Occasions stall, said: “A lot of people were against HALE. They set up pop-up arts and crafts, but they just did not promote it well enough.”

Mrs Dawson said there was a feeling among some traders that there had been a “lack of communication” from HALE to the traders.

“The communication could have been better,” she said.

Mrs Dawson said, going forward, the market needed to take some of the ideas that Hale had while attracting the type of pop-up shops that, in his view, would be more suited to the surroundings.

Graham Preston, joint owner of Shipley Haberdashery and Craft Shop, said a steering group including traders and LAP will team up in the future and he added “some good ideas have come forward”.

David Brown, owner of Brown’s Jewellery Repairs, said Hale’s period managing the site had not been a successful one for him.

He said: “My turnover is down 75 per cent over the last 12 months.

“No-one from the charity has spoken to me in the last 12 months.”

HALE said it has worked closely with LAP to reconfigure the tenants’ toilets at the site, which will provide public toilets for Shipley shoppers.

Natasha Thomas, HALE chief officer, insisted its time in charge of the market’s lease had been successful, despite some opposition from traders.

She said: “We have put a lot of volunteering time in getting something going and we have been successful.

“We wanted to trial a few things to rejuvenate the market, some worked and some didn’t.

“We are only a small charity and wanted to create opportunities for it to be regenerated. It has been an adventure.

“For some people, change is very hard and they don’t like it.”

She added four new tenants have been taken on at the market this year and improvements it had made included to the escalator at the site’s entrance.

Ryan Troy, who took over as market manager in June when he was appointed by HALE, will remain in his role.

In February, the Telegraph & Argus reported unhappy traders raised concerns about the way HALE was running the market.

Traders wrote to LAP to complain about HALE’s plans for the market, which they claimed did not include them.

The critics claimed that HALE had failed to attract any new tenants to the market since it took over - although the charity said at the time that it was in talks with many potential stallholders.