City council reaction

A BIRMINGHAM City Council spokesman said: “We are fully committed to supporting the Bull Ring Markets, which have been dealing with difficult trading conditions brought about by the pandemic.

“Reduced footfall was an issue across the retail sector prior to Covid-19, as consumers’ shopping habits changed, and this has been further impacted by the pandemic.

“Across the Indoor, Open and Rag markets, a small number of traders have chosen to either close their stalls or reduce the number of days they trade since they reopened on June 16. There is interest from potential new traders, and we are also looking at how casual traders can be safely accommodated into the markets in due course.

“During the lockdown period, traders’ fees, rents and service charge were waived – at a cost of £700,000 met by the council.

“Traders were also able to access the Government’s business support grants to help them with fixed costs and reopening their businesses. Business rate relief was not available to the council. Now that the Bull Ring Markets have reopened, the charges for each trading day remain the same – and this decision was not taken lightly.

“Traders wishing to leave their stalls usually give 28 days’ notice. However, in these challenging times that has been waived to allow them to leave without working their notice along with any charges (fees etc) for the remaining notice period.

“In terms of trader support, on the Rag Market businesses can benefit from half price rent for 12 weeks if they take on additional stalls.”