Crewe Market
A project between Cheshire East Borough Council and Market Asset Management Ltd. an operating subsidiary of The Pioneer Market Group Ltd.
December 2, 2025
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Hatch in Manchester opened in December 2017. It was initially a temporary pop-up space using shipping containers to house independent food, drink, and retail businesses.
Hatch was a modern version of an Outdoor Market Hall, and was a placemaking exercise for Circle Square, an 850 million investment into a 2.4 million sq./ft mixed use scheme on the former BBC site on Oxford Road, Manchester. The concept exceeded expectations and the placemaking exercise continued to trade until September 2023 when it was sold to Stack Leisure. Hatch had 30 traders operating from fully fitted out shipping containers.
£3.5 million turnover operation
3 bars operating in house
a brewery tap room
10 street food traders
6 service retail
10 retail units
James from Market Curators helped Hatch build the business up to a £3.5 million turnover operation. James was responsible for the venue operations with 3 bars operating in house, a brewery tap room, over 10 street food traders, 6 service retail and 10 retail units, as well as managing communications strategy and staffing.
We have used this as a case study because of the brand and event creation, marketing and effort creating something which would appealed to younger audience as well as demonstrating an effective placemaking exercise.
The name Hatch was used due to the nature of hatching small business’s which can grow into brick-and-mortar sites, with over 10 pop up operations going onto bricks and mortar sites. A strap line was curated ‘for the curious’ and used across communications and social media tags.
A young consumer was the target market with an age profile of 25 to 45, ABC1 Households and high users of social media. The marketing budget was mainly spent on social media content and events with PR, website content and wider communications handled inhouse. The focus was creating a brand which consumers liked, trusted and wanted to visit.
Hatch focused on Instagram and worked with local influencers and content producers.
Hatch opened 7 days a week from 12 noon and trader contract stipulated that each trader was open when the venue was open. This was enforced to deliver the best possible customer experience.
We created ‘pillar’ events which focused on larger city-wide activities such as Manchester Pride, Freshers Week, Christmas and summer bank holidays. This was supported by live entertainment on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with bands playing popular covers of ‘party classics’ aimed at entertaining and encaging people within the venue. The venue used a local record shop to provide DJ’s which played laid back house, reggae, non-offensive hip hop and good tunes with the focus of retaining customers in the evening to increase spend per/head.
Trader recruitment and retention was particularly important as that’s the hook for people choosing to visit.
The quality, brand alignment and diversity of offering was a focus.
Check out other projects that Market Curators have helped with.
A project between Cheshire East Borough Council and Market Asset Management Ltd. an operating subsidiary of The Pioneer Market Group Ltd.
A project between Darlington Borough Council and Market Asset Management (Darlington) Ltd. an operating subsidiary of The Pioneer Market Group Ltd.
A project between City of Doncaster Council and Market Asset Management (Doncaster) Ltd. an operating subsidiary of The Pioneer Market Group Ltd.
Local authorities, developers, landlords and community partners all have a role to play, and we’d love to hear about your project. Get in touch on 0203 857 3847 or email hello@marketcurators.uk for a conversation about how we can help shape your market or food hall.