THE owner of the Stuff indoor market, closed suddenly at the end of April, is hopeful the project could still be revived in some form.

David Lashmar took the decision to close the market in Middle Street, Croydon, because it had not attracted enough long-term tenants during the three months it was open.

Some of the traders who attended every day were beginning to make money.

But that group, including chocolatier Tim Fisher, who has now moved into Allders Mall, claim the project was affected by less regular stallholders.

They say some traders turned up sporadically, hindering the chance of the market building a stronger customer base.

Mr Lashmar said at the time that he would be looking for someone else to take over the premises – his former Beanos record store – which he had converted into shoplets and stalls for specialist small businesses at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.

And in an e-mail to supporters this week, Mr Lashmar said since the closure he had been in talks with several parties and was hopeful "a new Stuff would appear."

He added: "Everyone who visited us said how much they liked the atmosphere, it really is unique and it took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to build.

"It would be a crying shame if I had to sell up and completely rip out all the fabulous little shops, to say nothing of the amazing memorabilia, much of which had been acquired over the years as Beanos."