On March 25, 1996, a £1.2m purpose-built temporary market was opened to absorb the traders of the historic Rawson Market, which was largely demolished to make way for a super new £6m development.

It was all part of Bradford Council’s Building A Brighter Bradford plan for the city centre – the transformation of eight city-centre sites at an estimated cost of £96m.

Centenary Square, the Interchange, Forster Square, the Wool Exchange, Rackhams, Manor Row, the West End and Rawson Market were all on the list. Six of them did indeed undergo a metamorphosis. In addition, another £8m was spent giving Kirkgate Market and John Street Market – now the Oastler Centre – a make-over.

The West End development did not happen. Eventually, after a protracted delay a replacement store was built behind the frontage of the old Rawson market – it’s now called Wilko.

But what of the temporary Rawson Market building? At first traders and public alike expressed satisfaction with the place, but within three or four years footfall had become an echo in the memory. One by one businesses pulled out until the place was vacated completely.

Rawson Market mark 2 remained empty for 13 years or more. In January this year, Bradford Council markets officer Colin Wolstenholme told the Council’s Regeneration and Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee that the city’s first official Asian bazaar could be ready for business by this month or April.

Yesterday morning scaffolding was up around the front of the building on Infirmary Street, between Simes Street and Rawson Road. Men in hard hats and yellow jackets from a roofing firm in Barnsley were on the roof carrying out remedial work.

The inside of the building, which contains spaces for at least 26 units and stall areas, looked in good repair, apart from one place where water had been leaking from the roof on to the concrete floor below. But that did not appear to be serious.

Markets officer Adrian Barnes, speaking in the absence of Mr Wolstenholme who is on leave this week, said: “At the moment they are doing preparatory work to make sure the roof is sound before we can go any further.”

The idea of a bazaar was welcomed in January by Independent councillor Muhammad Shabbir, who said it could bring more people into central Bradford.

Yesterday Councillor Shabbir said he had heard nothing more about the proposed development, but would be asking for a progress report at the next meeting of the Regeneration and Economic Overview Scrutiny Committee at the end of this month.

Meanwhile, traders in the nearby Oastler Centre are wondering what affect on their businesses a bazaar might have.

Karen Wood, the owner of Woodie’s Cafe in the market, said: “A lot of traders are worried, especially those dealing in clothing, in case the bazaar takes their trade away.”

Mrs Wood, who employs six people at different times of the working week, said she pays £2,000 a month in rent, rates and service charges and needed to clear at least £300 a day to keep going.

“Sometimes I don’t get a wage. If they cut the rates these units would all be full,” she added. But for the financial support of her husband, a fire officer, she doubted that the business she loves coming to every day could keep going.

Traders of both the Oastler Centre and the Kirkgate Centre have been talking to the Council about the possibility of moving into one or the other place. Council leader David Green hopes to see the consultation review about that in the summer.

As to Rawson Market, he said the bazaar idea was “moving forward”, which was why men were on the roof carrying out repairs.

On Tuesday, Councillor Green was shown the subterranean tunnels under the city centre that Clinton Fitzpatrick’s Sunbridge Wells company wants to transform into a Victorian-style place of niche interest with shops, bars and restaurants.

Councillor Green said the Council was only interested in reality, not pie in the sky.

“We’ve made it clear that if we are going to sit down with people they have got to come to the table with evidence of something they can deliver,” he added.