SOUTHEND’S iconic Kursaal building should be overhauled and transformed into an indoor fresh food market, according to a campaigning mum who has launched a fresh petition. 

The Kursaal, on Southend’s seafront, has proved a hot topic in recent years - lying almost entirely empty aside from a Tesco Express. 

Now Cassie Gregory, 32, who lives close to the Kursaal, has launched a petition after revealing it “breaks her heart” to see it “dilapidated and not being used”. 

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The mum has since set up a petition in a bid to convert it into a fresh food market and bring it back into use. 

She said: “I set the petition up because my partner and I live behind the Kursaal building and walk past it on a daily basis.

“Seeing it go to ruin has broken our hearts, it is a waste.

“I think the best thing to do with such an historic building is something that is to the aid of residents like having an indoor fresh food market.

“Granted there are a lot of supermarkets and mini-markets in and around Southend, but there isn’t much that is completely fresh and ready at hand in one place.

“There are also a lot of fresh food markets in various places in the UK which are so well-received by the public.”

Southend Council owns the freehold of the land but London-based property group AEW has a 200-year lease on the building.

Under the terms of the lease, the company must maintain the condition of the building but in recent years it has been left to deteriorate, with smashed windows allowing access for pigeons.

The new petition for a fresh food market has already received more than 150 signatures.

Cassie adds that she hopes this fresh idea would also help businesses and food producers across the borough.

She said: “It will bring more life to Southend and the Kursaal.

“It could include fresh fish and seafood, homemade food, meat, fruit and vegetables but also things like spices, jams, and chutney.

“There is so much versatility that will help local food producers as well as small businesses too.”

To sign the petition, visit www.change.org/p/turn-the-kursaal-building-into-an-indoor-fresh-food-market