Market traders make a stand as charges soar

WE’VE all become used to inflationbustingincreases on all manner of products and services in the past few years – often unfortunately combined with whatwearepayingfor,getting worse rather than better.

Probably the most obvious example of this is so-called ‘shrinkflation’ in the supermarkets where the size of products are reduced at the same time their price increases.

Back in January, consumer group Which? highlighted a series of examples of this practice; from shrinking bottles of mouthwash to cuts in the number of teabags in a packet all the way through to the amount of beef in a Tesco beef lasagne dropping.

It is frustrating for consumers but they have often have little option but to accept the changes or take their custom elsewhere.

Now a similar scenario involving traders at Sheffield’s Moor Market and the city council is playing out but will hopefully have a more positive outcome for all those concerned.

With traders facing a 14.8 per cent increase in service charges from mid-May, members of The Moor Market Traders Group have prudently taken the opportunity to point out to the local authority that introducing such a substantial rise should be accompanied by a quid pro quo to finally sort out a series of long-standing issues with the site.

Within a letter to the council seen by my Yorkshire Post colleague Michael Crossland, traders have described issues including faults with doors, disabled access lifts and lighting, as well as issues around drainage beneath stalls, which they claim leads to bad smells within the market.

Traders have also claimed that they believe the market’s security team is “not fit for purpose”, and that signage from shops which left the market “years ago” has never been removed.

For their part, Sheffield City Council bosses have confirmed that it had received a letter on behalf of the group of traders, and that the market’s management team are now looking into the claims raised in the letter. They say that the management team would be working with traders to address some of the issues.

The local authority also points out that the service charge increase is the first such rise in a decade and the council has been substantially subsidising those costs.

Nevertheless, traders are taking a stand and have threatened they will not comply with the higher costs unless these issues are resolved.

That scenario is not one that is in anyone’s interests who either works from or shops at the Moor Market, which only opened its doors in November 2013 as the flagship replacement for the city’s once-famous Castle Market which had become increasingly down-at-heel.

The market’s move kickstarted something of a renaissance for The Moor shopping street over the past decade, with major retailers and banks migrating to that area of town. So it is a particular shame that these issues are unfolding at what is supposed to be a landmark site.

Common sense should hopefully prevail and these issues addressed in a positive manner. Otherwise, the next thing Sheffield shoppers will see shrinking is the number of traders based at the market.

Chris Burn is Yorkshire Post Business and Features Editor.