Seamus, the tatooist in the "underground" bit, told us in July that all the shops down there had been closed because they didn't have the right license for the walk through (I've no idea what that means though!). He was allowed to stay open as he has an entrance to the front as well as the side, and the front premises were all correctly licensed.
Would be great if they did repave the area where the canal stalls were, and put them back. It needs doing, but I doubt that's the real reason they were removed in the first place - surely they would have done that out of season if that was the case, there is clearly no rush to get it done so far this summer!