Eerie calm in the English Market: ‘Walk-in business is nearly annihilated’

It has survived famine, fire and war but the English Market in Cork is perhaps facing its greatest ever challenge in its 232-year history as its traders struggle to cope with Covid-19.

Working with the HSE, Cork City Council has closed all but two of the seven entrances to the market – Grand Parade and Princes Street – and hired extra security to limit numbers.

"We have limited the number of customers allowed in the market at any one time to 60," says the city council's head of property, Stephen Fox, while the number of staff on duty at any one time can not be more than 60.

Non-food stalls and restaurants have closed, while most stalls now have skeleton crews. Equally, the flood of tourists that has become part of the market’s life has disappeared.

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"Nobody is going around the market browsing, but the people who come in are coming in to buy food and then leave – they are spending as little time as possible"

“We have a queuing system in place outside the market overseen by our security staff but we’ve only had to put that in operation once so far as footfall is down by as much as 80-90 per cent,” he says.

Butcher Tom Durcan, who has traded in the market since 1985, says: "The walk-in business is nearly annihilated. We have five staff but we have one guy off this week, another next week, so we are staggering staff.

“But we only need one there at the moment, it’s so quiet. Nobody is going around the market browsing, but the people who come in are coming in to buy food and then leave – they are spending as little time as possible.”

The survival of traders will be decided by how long the pandemic continues and for how long the country remains locked down, Durcan says.

“We were complaining a few years ago about the ‘Pana’ ban – the traffic ban on Patrick Street – where we lost 20-25 per cent of our business. We were able to cope with that, even though it knocked the cream out of it for a while.”

“We have an online system but I never really pushed it until now and we’re beefing that up and our home delivery business has trebled, if not quadrupled. People are buying everything [online]: spiced beef, diced beef, lamb, chicken fillets.

“It’s a free delivery service, once people are reasonable, and they are. They know I’m not going to drive five miles with just a pound of sausages. Thankfully our suppliers are still able to provide us with what we want.”

Home delivery

Fishmonger Pat O’Connell, whose late mother Kathleen set up the business in the market in 1962, is also noticing the impact but his home delivery service is helping to keep business ticking over.

“We’ve never experienced anything like this – we’re probably down 40 per cent,” says O’Connell, who became the international face of the market when Queen Elizabeth visited it in 2011.

“Having said that, people are making the effort to come in, and we’re doing pretty well with the home delivery side – without that, we’d be down 60 per cent,” he says.

Thanking John Nolan of Castletownbere Fishermen's Co-op, he says the west Cork trawlers are managing to get to sea to catch a steady supply for his counter.

“It’s trying to judge how much fish to buy. It’s lost its pattern, as people react to the news in terms of how much to buy the next day and the next few days. That’s a real issue when you are selling a perishable product.”

The flip side is you get the humour that Cork is famous for

Home deliveries are made up to 30 miles from Cork: “Thirty miles is a big radius but it’s exceptional times. Some people want to come in but they can’t – they might be self-isolating or whatever.

“But they supported us down the years, so if we can return the compliment, we will,” he says. “You do sense people are worried, though. There’s fear in the air.

“It’s the invisible enemy and the fact you can’t see it and you don’t know where you are likely to pick it up and anybody with an underlying issue is very worried,” he continues.

“The flip side is you get the humour that Cork is famous for. A fellow told us the other day he met God in Cork and God said it was because he was working from home so you do have a laugh even though it may be a cover for a little bit of fear.”