Town centre’s new container market opening on track

Nicholas Thomas Local Democracy Reporter

An innovative container market which is part of a ‘masterplan’ to regenerate a town centre and attract more tourists is on target to open at the end of January.

Caerphilly County Borough Council is aiming to open Ffos Caerffili, on Cardiff Road, in late January.

The market was originally slated to open in November 2023, but this was pushed back to January 2024 after the council “listened carefully to the feedback from the potential traders, as well as our market operator”.

Masterplan

Ffos Caerffili is a key part of the council’s Caerphilly 2035 masterplan, aimed at regenerating the town centre and attracting more visitors.

The market includes several shipping-style containers and will host a mixture of retailers, food and drink outlets, and office space.

Building work continued this week at the site, which is a hive of activity and surrounded by wooden fencing.

Construction crews could be seen inside the containers as well as working near the main entrance, and it appears the market’s units will be on two storeys in some places.

Ffos Caerffili will stretch back alongside Park Lane on a patch of land previously earmarked as the location of a boutique hotel, before the council changed tack and opted instead to build a market.

Hotel project

Before building work began in 2023, the former Specsavers store at the junction with Cardiff Road was demolished to make way for the new attraction.

Artist impressions of the new market show an open, courtyard-type seating area with a range of units either side.

A reported 28 traders will open businesses in Ffos Caerffili, the council indicated previously.

The hotel project which was, originally proposed for the Park Lane site, is still in the Caerphilly Town 2035 plan, reportedly somewhere else along Cardiff Road.