Harlow Council buys Adam House as part of major rebuilding of Market Square
News / Mon 24th Mar 2025 at 02:24pm
HARLOW Council has purchased Adams House as part of its plans to rebuild Market Square in Harlow town centre which are due to start shortly. The purchase follows agreement made by councillors in December 2024 to move ahead with the acquisition.
The 1960s 3-storey building, which includes the iconic Market Square clock, also has 28 self-contained residential homes occupied by private tenants and two empty commercial units on the ground floor. As part of the deal, the Clock House pub has closed.
The transformation of Market Square is due to start in the coming months, and the council is working at pace to redevelop the buildings that surround the square, including Adams House to attract new nightlife, bars and restaurants to the area. The council have confirmed that the iconic clock face will be retained within the redeveloped Adams House.
This is all part of the council’s plan to turn Market Square into a new destination for leisure, hospitality and nightlife. The regenerated Market Square will see bars, restaurants, nightlife and high-quality apartments, in the buildings around the square with a large water feature, open market, and outdoor dining in the middle of the square.
The council is embarking on major regeneration programme for the whole of the town centre with the rebuild of Harlow Bus Station and the transformation of Broad Walk and Terminus Street plus the new arts and cultural quarter in Playhouse Square.
Today’s announcement follows the news last week that the council also intends buying the nearby neglected 4-acre Strawberry Star site for redevelopment. A report on this goes to Cabinet and Full Council on Thursday night (27 March).
Councillor Dan Swords, Leader of Harlow Council, said:
“We are on a mission to rebuild our town centre, and this purchase is essential for the regeneration of Market Square. We have taken up the opportunity to buy this building so we can control the development of the area and support our plans to bring bars, cafes, restaurants and a nighttime economy to this area. There is no secret that this area has been blighted by anti-social behaviour and has become another no-go zone in our town centre. This purchase shows that we will do what it takes to rebuild the town centre.
“I also want to be clear that this is not a return to plant pots or table tennis tables. What residents will see is the complete rebuilding of Market Square and the buildings on all four sides. We will completely redevelop Market Square into an area residents are proud of and can enjoy at all times of day.”
Seamus
2025-03-24 17:15:15
“I also want to be clear that this is not a return to plant pots or table tennis tables" but then said, "with a large water feature, open market, and outdoor dining in the middle of the square." as well as "plus the new arts and cultural quarter in Playhouse Square." You are still living in your own bubble Dan. They are not dumping Londoner's from Notting Hill, Mayfair, Knightsbridge or Belgravia Dan, they are dumping the excess and unwanted from the grim parts of London that even London doesn't want. There is an old saying " You can't spread glitter on a turd and call it golden" You need to go back to basics and fight for the people of Harlow, something Harlow councillors seem to have forgotten what that is since they launched a coup to take over Harlow council.
Boris
2025-03-24 17:31:03
Seamus, your glass is constantly half, perhaps not even that, full. Let us give credit to Dan and co for at least giving it a go, I think you insult people, just because some are "dumped" here doesn't mean the people of Harlow won't appreciate improvements. I am happy to criticize where I think it is due, I am also prepared to be say well done. Have you actually tried to become a councillor (I haven't)? Perhaps you are actually a labour councillor. What do you think should be done with the area of the article?
Ted
2025-03-24 17:39:50
Seamus. Give them a chance . People complain when they do nothing , and now your complaining when they are going to do something good. Stop moaning. As far as the market square being a no go area , that's down to the police nit doing their job.
gary
2025-03-24 18:00:31
How about finishing the projects at the other end of Broad walk, before starting new works.
Surinder
2025-03-24 18:07:58
Seamus, what you completely fail to understand is aspiration. There are plenty of people in Harlow who aspire to a better town with improved facilities and offerings. I and many people I know go to Chelmsford, Stortford, Hertford and London for shopping and leisure. Why can't Harlow have excellent shops, restaurants and bars, etc and at least give our residents a choice? We were much better in the past. Just look at the new David Lloyd Leisure development. Companies like that do extensive research before deciding to invest in a new location. This is a good example of the type of businesses we can and need to attract. We need more and high skilled businesses offering well paid jobs. This then becomes a virtuous cycle spiralling upwards. You need more faith and more ambition. Harlow is a fantastic strategic location. It needs to advertise this. Constantly talking Harlow down keeps it down. Fortunately, we have a Council administration making strong efforts to arrest the rot of many years and elevate our town.
Nicholas Taylor
2025-03-24 18:21:47
Just a few comments, 1) Harlow Council once occupied all the offices in Adams House. 2)The building was/ is set to have another storey built on top of it. 3) What about Market House, which has been empty and lain derelict for years and is set to have another storey put on it? 4) Will all the current occupiers be prepared to vacate their premises to make way for new businesses like cafes and restaurants knowling that the area is to be tarted up? 5) The Occasio House site has lain empnty for over a year now, when will anything get started? 6) If it takes as long as the paving in the Broadwalk area to get done, even Dan could be drawing his pension before anything is finished!
Tony Treacher
2025-03-24 18:35:35
There is aspiration and desperation, and this proposal smacks of the latter, it does make you wonder, how, and why, the markets in towns like Chelmsford, Colchester and Norwich are so long running and successful?
,Resident
2025-03-24 18:52:37
What has happened to Harlow? Ive lived here fo many years and have seen the decline of the town and it makes me so sad. The market used to be so vibrant and colourful, how come other towns can keep their markets going yet ours has gone? Well done Harlow council for trying, time will tell.....
Surinder
2025-03-24 19:21:06
To all the doubters and doomsters on here, I recommend you visit Bracknell in Berkshire, another New Town designated after WW2 about the same time as Harlow. About 15 years ago, they undertook a major regeneration of their then decrepit Town Centre which in terms of design and layout was not dissimilar to Harlow. It was completely rebuilt and is now a highly attractive and bustling centre replete with excellent shops, bars, restaurants, etc. This council has pledged to undertake a similar project for our town centre. See Bracknell. It can be done. Too many faint-hearted pessimists on here who wallow in failure.
Deborah
2025-03-24 19:25:46
Completely agree with Seamus and Martin. I'm 3rd generation Harlow and when I was younger I loved the fresh fruit and veg market in market Square and the water gardens were lovely and peaceful and now it's full of non English speaking people and looks so sad with 10 shops in a row opposite the old cinema all boarded up and derelict. I do wish we could go back to how Harlow was, I wish I still saw the same old faces that everyone knew but now instead of homing our children that were born in Harlow we have housed a load of strangers from London. I even overheard a woman moaning saying she preferred her borough in London than Harlow, felt like saying well go back then. I don't see how nightlife is going to prosper when people haven't got two pennies to rub together and are worried about there safety at night because of all the strangers that have been recently dumped in Harlow. I wouldn't let my daughter go out in Harlow it's far too unsafe now. I want our English Town back 😢
Kim
2025-03-24 19:34:03
People have been telling you Mr swords, for as long as I can remember, that they want a regular week day market back.. Its called market square for a reason. This will bring the revenue into the town..( again not listening) Was this cash bought or a loan, because we still don't know if burnt mill flats was cash or loan. I don't expect an answer Dan, the people won't get one. It's not a good time for business at the moment, so instead of telling us what you want there, tell us when you know you have them coming, remember marks an spencers, we don't want that to happen again. And as for hospitality, there finding it a real struggle at the moment. So let us know when you have facts of what's going there.
Frank
2025-03-24 20:35:09
Great move now let’s get all the land bankers out of the town centre
Livvy Richardson
2025-03-24 20:35:21
So I've lived up & down the country & finally settled in Harlow previously in the Epping district. I used to come to Harlow as there used to be so much variety, well it's all but gone. Places have been derelict for years like little walk. People will only come IF you have a good variety of shops which there definitely isn't now. I more than reserve my judgment on whether Dan can actually turn this town around
Dave
2025-03-24 20:50:19
Nothing ever gets done in Harlow. Little Walk has been a bomb site for at least 10 years. You might as well demolish the whole of the town centre. We have far too many coffee shops and eating places but no actual shops to buy anything except cheap rubbish. Also I find that speaking English seems to in the minority now.
Nick Gunning
2025-03-24 22:26:18
It's clear something needs to be done about the Stalinesque squares of the 50s and 60s. Large windswept plains of stone or concrete with occasional episodes of Disneyfication, a centre that came from a diagram rather than from actual observation of real, organically growing towns. Imagine Elizabeth 1st visiting Theobalds House 400 years ago and laughing at Lord Burleigh:"You have made your square too big, my Lord..." if only Fred Gibberd and his cronies had faced similar criticism. If you're going to create a real, welcoming and attractive centre, don't start from here. How about asking communities what they actually want, rather than going to the same people who have littered the country with dead, sterile spaces surrounded by utilitarian, cheerless ugly buildings. When a clock based on toilet tiling is called 'iconic' one has to wonder in which belief system this is so! Towns that work have strange winding alleys with surprising shops, artworks etc, theatres in the high street, not on the remote corners away from common passages with sterile surroundings. A bingo hall in the basement of a multistorey, a cinema in a shopping centre, few well known quality shops- a town that depends for many on driving around in cars, hardware store ¾ mile away from the supermarket etc, no coherence, no masterplan! Where is the vision? All the new towns could have been masterpieces instead of the mediocrities this council seems determined to regard as the last word in development.
RJC
2025-03-25 07:10:12
With the millions of pounds being spent around the town, is it now the time to open the toilets in our local shopping centres ?
Leigh Obrien
2025-03-25 07:12:40
How about reinstall a market,there's enough rubbish chicken shops in this town we need actual shops like those in other towns,harlow has bugger all,all the small niche businesses can't afford the over inflated rents you charge most small businesses would be bankrupt within a year with those rates and the town has no small business areas like redbox etc All this is going to do is give the drunks and druggies somewhere to hang around The town is dead and has been since the last Labour government,and was completely ignored under tory rule
Jenny
2025-03-25 08:36:04
When I moved to Harlow around 48 years ago people used to say how -, I envy you it is such a lovely place, lots of clean fresh air and green spaces. NOW they say Harlow who in their right mind would move to such a run down dirty town with no real shops, no entertainment. Violence and criminal activities rife. You can make the town look nice but within 1 month it will be vandalised. All this should be addressed before wasting money on trying to Improve the town
Dawn Hambling
2025-03-25 08:38:15
I agree with Leigh O’Brien, bring back a proper outdoor market in the square. Never mind about rubbish fast food shops, we have enough of them everywhere. A proper market and some decent shops.
Nicholas Taylor
2025-03-25 08:42:55
Regeneration so far has only meant cramming in more people in buiding more homes such as at Staple Tye and now our council think it can be based on bars and restaurants. It needs far more than this and a new much larger theatre, an exhibition centre and live music venue should have be built in place of Market House. An indoor Market should also play a part in regeneration and Market Square used for outdoor events. The council has already failed to maintain the new shrub beds constructed a couple of years ago along Cross Street, that is why so many people have little faith in the council these days. Nicholas Taylor, Leader of Harlow Alliance.
Derek Clark
2025-03-25 09:08:30
Well done Harlow Council, another great move to make this town a better place for the people of Harlow. When it all comes together over the coming month all the fools that just have no idea can go and love elsewhere, then they can moan about some other town.
Peter
2025-03-25 09:47:02
I personally don't always feel safe up the town centre in daytime let alone at night ....I've lived here all my life (66 yrs) ....Bars, night life, restaurants and fast food outlets will bring more trouble into the town and who will be policing all this ....cos the police station shuts at 5pm ...and soon be half day closing on Wednesday's no doubt...??
gary roberts
2025-03-25 10:11:01
Knock them down, leave them derelict for [choose a time] pretend all plans are prepared and paid for and then sit back and marvel at the rubble being produced. By the way has anyone seen a tenant/leaseholder in the Burnt Mills development. And is 52 flats for £56m another bargain for the council. The apparent mantra "lets buy it and see if...." Will the electorate like it? Would they not prefer a fully staffed local neighbourhood office, a doctors' surgery, a local bus service: I suspect the residents' of Potter Street would. Would you?
AB
2025-03-25 12:05:34
Nicholas Taylor's remarks are spot-on. A lack of planning imagination has left the town with half-baked, inadequate plans. Sadly a great opportunity has been fumbled.
Seamus
2025-03-25 12:55:25
Boris, Ted, Surinder. Apologies for the delay in replying. I wouldn't say glass half empty but more"who bought this round, I thought we were skint?" We are still not being told the amount the people are on the hook for on the Burnt mill development. Since then Dan has announced the purchase of the star properties and now Adams house with absolutely no mention once again just how much we, our children and grandchildren are going to have to pay and the interest on that debt. Dan Swords has a legal obligation to be open and transparent but there is none of that all. How can we pat dan on the back when we don't know where the money is coming from, how it will be used, where are the plans for it? The amount Dan is spending is in the tens of millions but there is no oversight as the ones who should be the oversiight, the councillors, are now the ones we need an oversight for. It is unicorn sky thinking that see's no difference from large flower pots to a covent garden style market square with a fountain, come on now. If money is spent, we need to know where has it come from, how is it being repaid, what is it for, has it gone through the required process and what oversight on the spend is in place. All things Dan Swords has not declared.
BOB
2025-03-25 13:34:25
IF YOU'VE GOT CASH ON THE HIP, WHY NOT PURCHASE EX-COUNCIL HOUSE STOCK, FOR 2ND GENERATION HARLOW RESIDENTS?
Mick
2025-03-25 15:02:13
Deborah mentioned the old cinema. Is it not possible to purchase this horrible building? Any developments alongside it will be spoiled with it still standing.
Vickey
2025-03-25 18:57:32
If the council has all this money to spend why don't they build council properties for those people who can't afford to privately rent,I say bring back council housing
Resident
2025-03-25 21:54:18
I'd love to feel positive about this but they can't even organise getting pavement slabs laid down. It's embarrassing. The town centre is dangerous with all the delivery drivers riding through though narrower gaps at speed. The town, aside from the water gardens is a dilapidated eyesore and all the so called improvements have ground to a halt. Get the place cleaned up, finish what's already been started. Reduce rents and rates to encourage retail business back into the town and actually deliver on what you keep promising. Most of what we see are failures
Rooney
2025-03-27 13:44:34
"...outdoor dining in the middle of the square." I'm sure this will be lovely for the three weeks of the year the weather's nice enough for people to enjoy it. And afterwards (assuming all these plans actually come to fruition ad the "redeveloped" sites aren't just left as rubble/boarded-up to decay) patrons can wander down the road and see the derelict cinema mouldering away, before visiting a generic chain-store or two, perhaps admiring some of the creative graffiti on the boards of empty shops and then heading back to the car park to discover the new dents in the doors thanks to the massive cars and tiny parking bays - welcome to Harlow.
Anthony Elliott
2025-05-24 14:16:22
Lived here all my life and have seen the town decline into the dump it is now , especially the town centre which is an absolute eyesore. Planning to sell up and leave when I retire in about 5 years and will be interesting to see if it gets any better before then
Disgruntled resident
2025-07-04 22:42:06
As a outsider living ( and before people jump on the band wagon) in and working in harlow so pay taxes and council tax , why put planters in ( waste money) cos they are clearly anti social places where the alcoholics sit n drink n single females ( even old ones like me ) feel anxious because the pissheads , yes I say this , shout at either each other or people walking by.. a whole section of shops closed because they were gunna knock the block down, but yet it's all still there and all still empty, And yet harlow council are focusing all the time and money on the " arts and cultural quarter "
Anonymous
2026-02-14 15:11:04
Maybe the drunks were nourishing the planters with their fag-ends.
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