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The Old Taiping Markets
Wikipedia tells us that:
Located at the commercial town center at the Market Square, there are two markets that built separately and separated by the Kota Road. The Old Market was built in 1884 and the New Market in 1885. Both buildings stood 220 feet in length and 60 feet in width. The buildings were built with timber pillars, concrete slab and iron roof. There was an iron fountain donated by Mr Ng Boo Bee that originally stood in front of the market, many years later it was removed and replaced with a simple concrete clock tower. These markets served two different functions, one as a dry market and the other as a wet market. During the heyday, these markets were stocked with fresh vegetables, fish and meats, almost everything was available from here. The price for all goods was controlled by the government according to a report made by Sir Frank Swettenham when he served as the Acting Resident of Perak in 1884 until 1886. Sir Frank Swettenham also acted as the man who responsible for the establishment of the markets, he suggested to the then British Resident of Perak, Sir Hugh Low that a market was needed as the population growth of the town was drastic. Eventually the proposal was granted, in Sir Hugh Low’s journal was written that, "the town has a good model for others, with a well maintained market for the public use".
The first photograph (left) shows one of the markets in the very early days.
The second photo (centre) shows the internal structure of the building
The last photograph donated by Ipoh Remembered shows a scene from the vegetable section of the market where a policeman is carefully watching two men weighing a sack of something using a wooden steelyard' style scale.