Council ‘trying to wear us down’ say market traders
STALLHOLDERS VOW TO BATTLE ON, WITH AUTHORITY YET TO CONFIRM CLOSING DATE
VICTORIA Centre Market traders feel they are in a “war of attrition” with Nottingham City Council as a timetable to close the site appears to have been scrapped.
Business owners at the historic market have faced uncertainty for years over plans by the city council, the market owner, to close the venue.
Traders remained in a state of limbo until a meeting called on December 11 last year led to the council saying it wanted to close the market this summer, after it had been operating at the Victoria Centre since 1971.
The plan to close the market this summer has been stuck to by the council earlier this year.
But the council now says it “cannot currently confirm a timetable for the market to close”, leaving the market traders in a state of uncertainty once again with some of them believing the council are deliberately trying to “wear them down”.
Some believe the council is waiting for them to leave, rather than forcing them out before selling the market, which would result in the council having to pay compensation.
Yet the traders left at the site, now numbering around 25, are determined not to leave of their own accord.
Nick Clark, who runs Cobblers and Keys, said: “It feels like a war of attrition – ‘let’s wear these beggars down until they leave of their own accord.’ But we’re quite clever businesspeople and whatever they throw at our feet, we’re going to adapt and keep going.”
Mr Clark says the city council is “running down” the market to make the trading environment harder for those remaining. The lifts bringing shoppers to the market from the car park are still out of order and Mr Clark says the shutter outside his shop was broken for over a week, something which “decimated trade”.
Also affected by the broken shutter, now repaired, was John Easom. The Gold Bank Jeweller said he just recorded his worst Saturday of trading for 10 years because of the shutter fault, which he thinks the council should have fixed with greater urgency.
Mr Easom agreed that the traders were in a stand-off with the city council, saying: “If they want to close it, then they have got to pay for that.
They can’t have it all their own way. Everything is pointing towards ‘don’t shut the market,’ but they still want to shut it.”
Aside from the recent broken shutter, Mr Clark says trade remains strong for the market traders, particularly for those on the front, who benefit from passing trade within the broader Victoria Centre.
Mr Clark said: “We’ve still got a very good name in Nottingham. We’re a destination shop, but passing trade is always nice to have as well.”
Traders were first told the city council would surrender its lease on the market on February 24 in 2022, with some having agreed compensation and arranged new premises to move into. This date came and went with no further certainty and it was eventually confirmed that negotiations with Global Mutual, the asset managers of the Victoria Centre Market, had fallen through.
After announcing its new closure plans last December, the council said negotiations with Global Mutual had been “both complex and protracted” and that talks would continue over the termination of the lease agreement, which the council says would have cost it £39 million over the next 50 years.
News that the latest timetable to close the market has been scrapped was confirmed in a letter sent to traders on Saturday.
Colin Wilderspin, strategic director of communities at the council, wrote: “I am aware that the market is your livelihood and you will have been experiencing some uncertainty since the council began making public statements about the future of the market.
“The council is committed to keeping you informed about its plans for the market but the council cannot act unilaterally and is constrained by obligations to the traders and the landlord, the owner of the Victoria Centre.
“Because of those constraints the council cannot currently confirm a timetable for the market to close. Each of you will be in different circumstances and I can confirm that the council will give due consideration to your individual circumstances. However, as you would expect, the council’s overriding responsibility is to achieve best value for the citizens of Nottingham in any transaction.”
The council did not want to say anything further when approached for comment.