Episode 4 Swansea Market

Built in the heart of the city,

Swansea Market is Wales' largest indoor market.

'There you are, £16.82.'

That's fantastic. Thank you very much indeed.

Every day, more than 700 people compete alongside each other

for business.

-Get your chestnuts and your satsumas.

-Cockles.

Come and get your fishies.

Their stalls will trade with the communities of modern Wales.

£4.79. £4.00 to you.

We'll think about it. Leave it here first.

We'll think about it.

And service its oldest institutions.

The first time I've ever shook hands with royalty.

In the grip of a recession, this is the one place

where a small idea can still turn into a big profit.

'The total business turnover'

is forecast is to be just over £5 million.

But the way we shop is changing.

City centres are losing business to large supermarkets and retail parks.

I've never seen it as tough as it is now.

You're destroying the livelihood of 700 people

if you destroy Swansea Market.

So how can it be right, how can it be right for the country?

The market has to pull together as a unit, as a team, I guess.

Filmed over the busiest period of the market's year,

this series explores the fortunes and fates of the city's traders

as they try and keep their business dreams alive.

Three minutes late.

You know, Paul, it's not good enough is it, son?

You've just got to pray somebody wants what we've got, basically.

That's all we can do.

Well, look. Look at all these lovely, happy people.

You don't get that in Tesco's.

It's the beginning of January in Swansea.

The city centre is now quiet

and the bustle of Christmas a fading memory.

The market has been open since the 27th December,

but the aisles have been largely empty.

Welcome relief for head of security Eric Toms,

clocking on after the New Year break.

Good morning, Ian. Eric it is from Swansea city centre market

just logging on for another day of abuse from the reprobates,

fighting crime, cold, walking about, meeting and greeting.

Have a nice day. Bye now.

Three weeks ago you wouldn't have been able to walk up this aisle

without having to shove past lots and lots of people.

You can see now there's no queues

and people are getting served quickly.

I mean, look how clear this aisle is.

So, I expect this is the way January's going to be.

For the traders, a quiet January is a difficult time,

when a lack of customers squeezes business and profits.

There are lots of people whose livelihoods depend on the market

and if people are not coming in and buying and we lose our customers

then it could mean some weeks that we don't have any money.

These will be lean times, there's no doubt about it.

Without Christmas these could be bankruptcy times.

Across the aisles, traders are stepping up to the challenge,

tightening their belts and adapting their businesses

to the quiet market.

We've got to try and encourage a little bit of growth

and we're looking to put on a few good deals

and to grab them.

You've got to do what you've got to do at the time.

It's all about the offers.

People walk past. They don't just shop with their eyes.

They shop with their purses and wallets too. It is a sign of the times.

To survive in this market you have to diversify.

It's no good going on your knees and hoping

something's going to come right. You have to do things for yourself.

At Sandy's Lunchbox,

New Year begins with gifts from a well-deserved winter mini-break.

This is their version of a salt and pepper pot.

So we've all got salt and pepper sets?

-You've all got... It reminds you of work, doesn't it?

-Yeah, lovely.

Sandy Ellis has just returned from holiday

and her first visit to North Africa.

We had a nice little New Year break in Morocco

which, I must say, was very interesting.

They thought I was Moroccan

and they offered Rob 50,000, I mean 50,000 camels for me.

Not 5,000 or 500, but 50,000.

Sandy's trip also opened her eyes to new foods and flavours

and a possible new direction for the Lunchbox.

We have been inspired by the Moroccan tagines

and I think sometimes it doesn't matter how long

you've been in a certain game,

it's fresh eyes needed all the time.

So, Rob and I are going to do some experimenting at home

with different things

and then some things we're going to introduce here.

What's happening at Sandy's Lunchbox

is reflected across the city.

Swansea is changing.

New people are arriving, bringing different tastes, new styles

and in the case of one group, a lot of new business to the market.

Is two pound all? Two pound all?

-You're having a laugh, aren't you?

-TV. You on the TV.

There are now over 3,000 Chinese people in Swansea.

From second-generation Hong Kong businessmen

through to wealthy students from Shanghai.

Both groups have a keen interest in fresh produce

and a very hands-on approach to selecting their food.

Six.

Stop touching.

This lady always touches. She touches all the time, she drives me nuts.

I just shout at them.

They just love to touch.

They check the gills.

It's only them that do it and it's not fair on other people who's buying the fish,

so I constantly shout at them.

You're just dying to touch them, aren't you?

We're different because the Chinese, we're very particular with our food.

With English people, I think, it's got to be fast and quick and easy

but with us it's fresh and looks nice and tasty,

that's what we're looking for.

-What are you after?

-£2.00 money.

-How much?

-£2.00 money.

Chinese interest is focused on fish and meat.

Most of the market's butchers now supply chicken feet,

necks and even chicken gizzard.

-If you can start them for me.

-Thank you.

-How many did we put in a bag last time?

-20 in a bag.

-Right.

What the Chinese do is this.

You've got the gizzard here.

You open the crop and whatever's in the crop,

which is seed and grass, you take this away there...

..and that is dressed ready.

What you've got there now is red meat.

There's 20 in here for a pound.

This should be gone in about three hours.

As soon as they see them out there now, word goes around they're here

and then everybody'll come in for them.

Thank you. Bye.

That's probably the right way up, Lee, isn't it?

Some will go to unusual lengths to attract the passing customer.

It is that way?

For Adrian Coakley Greene, the arrival of Chinese New Year

means giving his historic stall a distinctly oriental makeover.

We are buying fish in for the Chinese community.

They're so used to having very, very fresh and live fish back at home,

this is what they want

and this is what we're trying to source for them.

Lousy bit of Sellotape.

Oh, look at that, it's damp.

Adrian's extra effort appears to have paid off.

Look at this place.

Wow, very fresh!

It's a wow, wow, wow.

Yeah, when we seen this we definitely buy something in here.

We're just comparing prices, the little one there is two for £5

and this is three for £10, but this one look much more fresher.

You can see the eye's is still very bright

and got glisten on the body so it's a lot more fresher.

£5, OK.

£25 here, £5 for you.

Good business.

But the market's youngest fishmonger

has bigger fish to fry than the Chinese.

-Is that Neath?

-That's Neath, yeah.

-It says Neath.

Paul Raeburn, owner of the recently established Market Plaice,

is today opening a new stall in Neath Market,

several miles outside of Swansea.

There's always been three fishmongers in the market.

Two well established and one just always existed and that was it,

but it was always there.

People have tried and they've come and gone

but no-one's really made a go of it until now.

I've seen an opportunity to open a fishmonger's in a market

that doesn't have a fishmonger's so, while I'm youngish,

I'm going to have a go and see how it pans out.

We're probably going to lose a few customers from the Swansea shop,

but I don't mind that.

It's the customers that I gain from maybe the other two fishmongers

in Swansea Market.

But it's a competition and, as I say, I've seen an opportunity

and I'm having a go.

Neath Market, here we are. Let's do this.

I'm so excited.

Right.

Whilst the other fishmongers still sleep, Paul has invested £20,000

to transform an abandoned card shop into his second fish stall.

It's been quite stressful.

The easy part now is now.

It's just up to us to do our job now and that's what we'll do.

This is why I'm not nervous about this, I'm not worried about this.

This comes naturally to us now.

Paul's new business fits in with his ambitious plan

that could see outlets of the Market Plaice stretching across south Wales.

Somewhere down the line I would like - Cardiff.

Cardiff has got one in there, very well respected fishmonger's.

If there was an opportunity somewhere down the line

I would like to have a go in there but that means myself relocating.

I'm talking a good five years at least.

Have we got water in the sink?

This was an opportunity too good to pass up. I've gone for it.

Fingers crossed another opportunity will present itself

because I'm always looking forward to progress

but at the same time it's got to be financially viable to do it.

There we are, Market Plaice is now open.

Wahey!

But as the sun rises in Swansea,

Paul's ambition has caused upset in the market.

To cover two stalls, the Market Plaice has expanded its workforce

and for the second time in two years Paul has poached staff

from his rival, Neil Morgan.

Mark's left. He's gone to work for one of my competitors.

I've lost two staff to him.

It's not a business tactic I get to use.

It's not something that I'd want anyone to go through, you know.

It's not a nice thing to do.

Mark Rastatter has shifted allegiance from Tuckers

to the Market Plaice.

My partner's got a son, he's 18 who lives with us.

I've got my own daughter, she's 15 and she lives with her mother

and I've got bills to pay.

You've got food, you've got the rent,

you've got all these different things.

Paul offered me a shot and it's more money and I need it.

I need the money to get by.

There we are, fishmonger's open in the market.

Give that in when you buy you get 10% off, fresh fish.

I've always been a grafter, to be honest, and I believe

you've got to work hard, nothing will fall in your lap.

If you want something, you've got to go and get it. It's hard work.

If you think you've made it, that's when standards start slipping.

We're always looking to improve and progress.

There we are, my friend. There's a fishmongers opened in the market.

Give this when you buy and you'll get 10% off.

-You can use it all week.

-Oh, right. All week?

All week you can use it.

Paul isn't the only one starting fresh in the new year.

In a garage, just south of Aberystwyth,

a new business is beginning for David Court,

three weeks after his wedding favours shop was forced to close in the market.

Well, we've been home and after a bit of recuperation.

We've done some thinking and some working

and now I'm rebuilding from scratch.

This is what it looks like and feels like to do things from scratch.

It's slow, hard, cold, dirty and it's boring.

But it's going to happen because I'm going to make it happen.

It makes you get up in the morning and go to work with a will

because it's either that or lose everything.

You don't have much choice but to get on with it. Quite an incentive.

David's new business is in machine-cut Welsh love spoons.

Crafting up to 50 a day,

he has begun selling into gift shops across the country.

Today's destination is Caerphilly.

This one is a sweet shop so I can't sell to them.

There's a shop over there called Nice which looks like a gift shop,

I might give them a look.

Ah, Siop Menna, Welsh books.

I have sold to Welsh book shops before.

I really ought to give her a look.

I think I'll call in and see whether I can do something here.

Hello, my name is David.

What we've done, we've been making love spoons for 27 years

and this is the third time Britain has gone into recession in that time.

So you're the jinx.

I hope it's not me.

And so we've got a range of spoons which are designed to be

affordable to the cash-strapped visitor.

So, that's what we're offering.

Is that something you'd be interested in?

It is an area that I would like to branch out into

but obviously it does all come down to cost.

OK, so I really need to call either at the busy time of the year

-or this time next year.

-Erm, yes.

I walk each day as far as I have to walk.

It's like Ranulph Fiennes in the South Pole.

If you don't want to die you have to just keep walking

and I'm in a similar position.

I've got to survive financially.

So to do that I keep walking and I sell my spoons.

-My name is David Court, I make Welsh love spoons. Hiya.

-Hello.

So, what I've got to offer you is really some very strong

simple designs of love spoons.

Do they come in white at all, or is it only this colour?

No, I can do them in the white.

Only that it would look more shabby chic in my shop which is the look.

When poplar comes in the white, it looks like this.

Right, let me say it's lovely quality.

Thank you very much.

-But at the moment I have to say no.

-That's all right.

I've got a mortgage to pay,

loans to repay, a car to run,

a wife to support, but essentially...

Now where the dickens am I?

I'm forever getting lost. I'm not very good at this sort of thing.

'I've been making and selling love spoons'

for 27 years now,

so I've quite a lot of experience commercially,

but not sitting in a shed whittling particularly.

We've changed our design over the years,

we've made it a little bit more rounded and a bit shorter.

I can deliver you a display of spoons instantly

if you would like one.

-But it would depend on the price.

-OK, then.

If, when bad stuff happens, you roll over and you're dead,

you're dead.

But if you do not accept being dead because that's not what you want,

you think no, I'm not going to do dead,

I'm going to do get back up, face the strongest wind

wherever it's coming from if necessary,

and that is the direction I'm going in.

I'm going to keep going in it until I get what I want.

Right, if you'd like to come over here. What's the name of your company?

It's the Gift of Wales. We make Welsh love spoons.

When I showed that to St Fagans, their expression was,

"You get a lot of spoon for your money, don't you?"

That is only £2.99, handmade in Wales.

-Is that something you'd like to go with?

-Yes, I think so.

I think we'd be very interested. Have a safe trip.

-Thank you Mandy, all the best.

-Take care, take care.

-Bye-bye.

'They've accepted my offer.

'They'll make money out of it, I'll make money out of it'

going forward, so all's well that ends well.

So, that's it really.

David's freedom to travel is the envy of some traders

stuck behind their stalls in an empty New Year market.

Today's been very quiet.

We expected it to be busy because it's a Saturday

but it's more quiet than usual, so...

How are you?

Emily Poole's new Chocoholics shop has just made it through Christmas.

A quiet January has now forced her to make a big decision.

I've decided to shut the shop and try other ventures.

I'll go into more workshops and wholesale things to see

if that works out better.

At the moment the shop isn't really paying for itself

and I think it would be better to do other things for it.

After ten weeks, Swansea is losing

its only handmade organic chocolate shop

as Emily is unable to pay her rent.

Well, today I've had one sale and the bus fare cost me

almost as much as the sale.

So today wasn't really enough for the overheads of the shop.

Hello. How are you?

It's that time again.

'When you do see businesses starting to fail, it's not pleasant.

'When they discover maybe their product isn't what people want.'

You see some guys who take it really personally

like it's almost a rejection, almost, of how they do things.

I never thought I'd get stressed out about money.

If I carry on from now, then I would be getting into quite a bit of debt.

The cycle of life in Swansea Market has made another turn.

Emily will head back to her office job.

Just as one stall comes to the end of its life,

another is about to begin.

On the outskirts of Swansea,

a very different handmade product is being prepared.

And it promises to make the Market a little bit more diverse.

This was our first, which is our little witches' gift shop.

Hywel does all the woodworky bits.

The cushion, I made the cushion.

It's one of my designs that I've put together myself.

Hywel and Julia Jeffreys are preparing to open Swansea's

first artisanal dolls' house store.

Not for children.

I consider our dolls houses to be more artisan collectors

miniature houses, rather than dolls' houses.

We don't do dolls' houses, we do miniature houses for adults.

Everything is to the scale as a real house.

Everything you have in the real world,

you have in the miniature world.

Everything, the water, everything.

The world that Hywel and Julia painstakingly create

through their hand-built houses,

is slightly different from modern day Swansea.

For us it's more fantasy.

It's more fantasy, because we like the wizards and the wands,

we like the dragons, we like the caves. We like King Arthur.

Because we like castles in real life so we'll go and visit these castles

and we like the knights, we like watching TV programmes.

I don't think I'm eccentric

but, probably, if people were looking in then, yeah.

Julia will keep her job as a psychiatric nurse

when the store opens.

Hywel has already left his job as a carpenter to get the dolls prepared.

I think it's nice to space them out so you can appreciate

the way their clothes are and just the whole look of them.

You've even got her little tights, look, and the buckles on her shoes.

They definitely demand their own space,

they're not something that you just shove in.

They're works of art in their own right.

I can put my hand on my heart and say

this stall is more like a gallery.

It's to show what we can do and you can be part of it.

Of course, it's got to make money to tick us over

but we're not in it to make a fortune,

we're in it because it's a dream.

15 miles away in Port Talbot,

another new product is being prepared for the market.

Shall I peel all these for you?

Yeah, with all the seeds out, that's good.

Sandy Ellis and her boyfriend, Rob,

are tackling their first Moroccan tagine,

adding their own distinctly Welsh touch.

We've decided that we're going to go halfway,

half Port Talbot and half Marrakesh.

There's some things that we wanted to throw in that we like

that maybe isn't in the recipe.

As you can tell by this curvy girl figure, I like potatoes,

so he's put extra in just for me.

The arrival of the tagine has also changed

the dynamic in the kitchen, with Sandy taking a rare back seat.

I might be the queen of the shop but Rob's the king of the kitchen.

I love practising on different recipes when I have time.

We've got different ways sometimes of doing things.

And so when I'm cooking, to be fair, Rob helps

but he doesn't interfere even if he thinks he knows better.

And when Rob's cooking, you know, I respect that.

There's lots of things I taught him

and when we were boyfriend and girlfriend

he used to text me and say he was cooking something Sandy-style.

In other words, plenty of butter.

Sandy's Moroccan theme is not only new for the market.

It is a big departure from her own culinary roots.

I don't remember so much multicultural when I was a girl.

I don't remember having a pizza, to be honest with you,

until I was well in my teens.

So, for me, personally, my taste of trying different things

has come in my adult life and not as a child.

The next day, Swansea wakes up to a blanket of snow.

The prospects for Sandy's tagine being a success

suddenly seem under threat.

We made the tagine last night and it all went well and lovely

and now the snowfall means probably no bugger's going to taste it!

Heavy snow has prevented not only customers from reaching the market -

half of the stalls remain closed as well.

And so if the mountain won't come to Muhammad,

then Muhammad must go to the mountain,

and Sandy must take her tagine to the masses.

What we're doing now is, I've warmed some of the tagine

and we're going to put it in these takeaway polystyrene cups

to keep it hot, and then we're going to go outside and give it

to some of the passers-by, obviously, as a free taster.

Right, Rob, you carry them.

Here you are, hun.

OK? Ready?

We've got something new in the market today

and I'd like you to try it, we're just giving away free tasters.

-Do you like that?

-Very nice.

Excuse me sir, could I just give you one of these to try.

It's homemade but it's made to the original recipe.

It's quite nice actually, surprisingly, yes.

You was a bit dubious then when you wanted to try it, weren't you?

-Yeah, but it's quite nice.

-Yes? Oh, thank you very much.

Excuse me, people.

It's lovely, actually.

This is Moroccan, a Moroccan dish.

This is a tagine.

It's got apricots and sultanas in it.

-Would you like to try one, sir?

-What is it?

It's a Moroccan tagine.

-What do you think? It's quite sweet, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? It's not spicy.

-Yeah, we go for spicy food.

Yes, I thought that! That's why I chose you.

-Super korma it is.

-It is good.

It is good but it's completely different

to what you guys would go for. Yeah, I know.

With a positive response on the streets,

Sandy now needs to get her regulars on board.

Vicky, if we can have a dish because Brenda's going to try the tagine.

She only wants a small little amount

because she's a bit of a stickler of sticking to the same old.

That's enough? There we go, all right.

In general I'm not one for foreign foods.

I couldn't eat spaghetti to save my life.

Now, I love the cabbage and I love my sprouts,

but I've got high cholesterol and I'm on morphine tablets

and I can't eat a lot with them.

Is it hot, hot is it?

Just this.

-Yes, I like that.

-Do you? Oh, I knew you would.

-You've surprised me now.

-See.

You old dears, sometimes, see, you need a kick up the bum

to get you into gear to change your way of thinking.

-Now you be careful.

-You're reminding me too much of my mother, Brend.

Sometimes that ain't a good thing, OK.

It's beautiful.

Thumbs up from Brenda.

If it's all right for Brenda it's all right for the masses, ain't it Brend?

This is nice.

Sandy's Lunchbox has turned another corner

and her business will continue.

For over eight centuries,

this is how the market has worked in the city centre.

Those with the right idea, at the right time,

have thrived under its domed roof.

What I'd say about market people is that we work hard

and we know what we've got to do.

None of the businesses in the market you have money for nothing.

If you know your business

and you have confidence in what you're selling,

you've got a very good chance of earning a living out of the market

but you won't get a bright future if you don't put the work in.

Ambition and hard work -

the two pillars of market life.

And just as generations of traders before have given themselves

to their businesses, so the new traders of today are doing the same.

We've done all right.

It's hard to gauge. Crack on again tomorrow.

There's always room for improvement,

and to do that I've got to provide a cracking service to customers

with fresh fish, and that's what I'm looking to do.

I'll come in and give 100% everyday.

In amongst the struggling high street

and the sprawling retail park,

Swansea Market stands alone in the city

as the place where fortunes can be made

and the dreams of owning a small business still realised.

This is what I wanted to do, have a shop and sell my hobbies.

At some point in life you've got to grab the dream and go with it.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd