The New Bacup Market At Temple Court In Bacup
Plans for the future of Bacup Market continue to form a key part of the wider Bacup 2040 Vision.
Over time, proposals for the market have been reviewed and refined to reflect changing circumstances, funding requirements and feedback from the community. Rather than progressing a single fixed design, the current approach focuses on creating a flexible, high-quality public space at the heart of the town centre that can support trading, events and everyday use throughout the year.
The intention is for Bacup Market to play a broader role in town-centre life — supporting traditional market activity alongside pop-up stalls, specialist markets, community events and cultural activity, whilst also contributing to footfall, dwell time and the overall vitality of the centre.
As plans continue to move through the development and planning process, further updates will be shared on how the market will operate, how traders will be supported and how the space will connect with wider improvements across the town centre.
Bacup Market remains a central part of the Bacup 2040 Vision — not just as a place to trade, but as a focal point for activity, events and everyday town-centre life, shaped by experience, learning and what is realistically deliverable.
How The Market Fits Into The Wider Bacup 2040 Vision
While Bacup Market is a highly visible and important part of the Bacup 2040 Vision, it is not the whole story. The Vision has always been about connecting the town centre up — physically, economically and socially — and ensuring that different parts of Bacup work better together rather than operating in isolation.
The market’s location at Temple Court, backing onto Union Street, places it at the centre of this wider approach. Improvements to the market space are intended to sit alongside the redevelopment and rebalancing of Union Street, helping to strengthen links between the traditional town centre, surrounding shops and new activity. Rather than treating Union Street as a service route or back-of-house area, the Vision recognises its potential to become a more active, attractive and usable part of the town centre in its own right.
A key element of this thinking is the creation of a clear pedestrian promenade running through the town centre. This route is intended to better link Temple Court and the market space with the larger retail anchors such as B&M, Morrisons and Aldi, making it easier and more intuitive for people to move through the town on foot. By improving pedestrian connections, sightlines and public realm, the Vision aims to encourage people to pass through the heart of Bacup rather than bypass it, supporting footfall for independent businesses along the way.
This approach also opens up opportunities for shops around the market area to rethink how they trade. By improving the quality and visibility of routes behind and alongside existing premises, Bacup 2040 encourages consideration of front-to-back trading, where appropriate — allowing businesses to engage with both traditional street frontages and the renewed market and public spaces to the rear. Over time, this helps blur the distinction between “front” and “back” of buildings, creating a more active and resilient town-centre environment.
Seen in this context, the market is not an isolated project, but a central piece of a much larger jigsaw. Its role is to act as a gathering point, a connector and a catalyst — supporting trading, events and everyday use, whilst helping to knit together Union Street, Temple Court and the wider town centre into a more coherent, walkable and vibrant whole.
