There has been a market in Ashton under Lyne for over 700 years - a royal charter to hold a market in Ashton was granted in 1284. In the subsequent 500 years, Ashton market was the focus of the area for miles around. As industries developed in Ashton during the nineteenth century, the market expanded to serve the growing population. The development of the present Market Hall began in 1829 and extended several times to its present size.

However, in May 2004 the historic Market Hall was gutted by fire during the early hours of the morning. The roof of the building collapsed and virtually everything inside the building was destroyed; more than 100 small businesses had stalls in the market.

While a new, temporary "Phoenix" Market Hall has been opened adjacent to the old hall, Tameside MBC has appointed Taylor Young and Patel Taylor as the architects for a redevelopment scheme to rebuild the market hall, while retaining the original Victorian façade.

Halcrow developed a fire safety strategy for the redeveloped Market Hall including the provision of an ‘aesthetically-minimal-impact’ automatic fire sprinkler system.