Sausage wars break out at Xmas Market
SELLER FURIOUS AT MISSING OUT ON NEWCASTLE CHRISTMAS MARKET
sellers. In the past, local vans would be allowed to take over after three weeks of the International Christmas Market, with the Newcastle Christmas Market running for a week.
But this year, the decision was made to merge the two – leaving Terry and his fellow local hot food traders out in the cold.
“My business will be closed come January,” Terry, from Pegswood, near Morpeth, said.
“I’ve been collecting stock since July – there’s only so long I can keep it frozen and if I don’t sell it this winter it will go to waste.”
Furious Terry says by the time he heard the bad news it was too late to put in applications for spots at other, smaller Christmas markets, so he’ll struggle to sell his wares this year.
He said: “I didn’t know anything about it changing until they told me I couldn’t apply.
“It used to be that Market Europe would be there for three weeks but we’d come down for a week and you could do fantastically well.
“I want to go down fighting, because they’ve essentially shut us down.
“I’m also embarrassed, because when I started I was one of the few people doing proper Bratwurst in the North East – a lot of people have copied that over the years, and now they’ve all got spaces at Christmas markets and I haven’t.
“I’m not frustrated, I’m not disappointed: I’m devastated, because I’m going to have to close down.” Newcastle City Council has defended shutting local hot food sellers out, saying there’s still room for local crafters and the change will improve the market.
A council spokesperson said “The council has ambitious plans for the city centre, with a vision to create a worldclass retail and leisure destination.
“The Christmas offer in the city is integral to this, attracting thousands of shoppers and visitors, which helps to support the wider city-centre economy. As such, each year we review how the Christmas market offer can be refreshed and improved. “This year, a four-week market is being operated by Market Place Europe and this includes a section allocated to our local traders who sell gifts and local produce.
“Changes this year mean that we did not extend this request to local hot food offers as we wanted to change the look and feel of the market that is already flooded with hot food stalls.
“As these changes were discussed with stakeholders and council officers later than usual, this has unfortunately resulted in a delay to sending our applications and information that hot food traders would not be required this year.
“We understand the disappointment and frustration from Mr Tait, and we wish to continue to work with local traders to ensure that our offer in the city is sustainable for years to come.”
I want to go down fighting, because they’ve essentially shut us down