Outcry among hospitality sector over ‘bonkers’ Christmas market
Nottingham’s Christmas Market has been cancelled after just one day after local hospitality businesses vented their anger over the weekend at the event which saw thousands of people descend on the city’s Old Market Square – with very few signs of social distancing evident.
The hosting of the Market, just a few days after Nottingham was placed under Tier 3 restrictions which ban hospitality venues from opening, has drawn emotions ranging from bewilderment to anger from local business owners wondering why the City Council has allowed organisers the Mellors Group to go ahead with this year’s event.
On Sunday lunchtime, Mellors Group issued a statement saying that “in light of the unprecedented high footfall seen up and down the country for retail nationally, we have decided to close the Christmas Market today.”
Mellors Group blamed pent-up demand” being “far higher than normal”. But by the evening the decision had been made to not re-open the event at all this year.
In a joint statement, Nottingham City Council and the Mellors Group said: “Following ongoing meetings, including observing strong city centre footfall again, we have made a joint decision not to reopen
Rob Darby, left, with TheBusinessDesk.com editor Sam Metcalf at an event last year
Nottingham Christmas Market this year.
“A wide range of measures had been put in place to ensure the market followed the Tier 3 guidance in relation to outdoor markets and fairgrounds. Plans were in place to control access to help manage the number of people entering the site at any one time and to continually monitor this throughout Saturday. However, numbers were too large to implement these effectively.
“Like the rest of the country, the city centre saw significant footfall and was notably busier than anticipated. This began to have a knock-on effect mainly on areas surrounding the Old Market Square but also including the Christmas Market later in the day.
“An increase in numbers of people around the Old Market Square after 6pm led to a decision to close the market early on Saturday.
“Now that we have seen how busy the city centre was overall yesterday, we have taken the decision not to reopen the market at again at all this year.
“We know this will be very disappointing for many local people who were looking forward to visiting and for the stall holders, many of them local, for whom this was a vital opportunity to trade in what has been an incredibly difficult year.
“We wanted the market to help support the local economy and bring some festive cheer by bringing people into the city centre in a safe, managed way as part of the reopening of non-essential retail after the national lockdown.
“Public safety and the safety of the stall holders has always been first and foremost in all the decisions we have taken.
“We’re sorry it has not worked out.”
The decision to open the Market has angered many local business owners. Rob Darby, the co-founder of coffee chain 200 Degrees, told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We are literally a few days out of lockdown. Most of hospitality is closed. Those that are open, such as 200 Degrees, are restricted to takeaway with no outside seating. To allow the Christmas Market to go ahead and to pack Market Square full of people seems completely bonkers.
“We need to get the COVID-19 numbers down in Nottingham to keep people safe and to get out of Tier 3.
Darby said that he accepts that Christmas this year is “not normal”, but added: “If it is not safe to sit outside the front of a Covid-secure coffee shop with furniture sanitised between uses and with safe distancing it is certainly not safe to put many hundreds of people shoulder to shoulder together in Market Square.
“It is very aggravating to comply with such tight restrictions ourselves and to watch them be made a mockery of by our own City Council who are in charge of getting the Covid rates down. The management and regulation of numbers in Market Square was zero – in venues we are very strict.
“The public understand when they enter a venue they need to check in to track and trace and behave in a COVID appropriate way. In an outdoor apparently unregulated market these behaviours are quickly forgotten.
“If the motivation for the market was to bring people into the city to support local traders this may well backfire too. Many may well now avoid the city as it feels less safe with these mass gatherings during a Pandemic.
“I normally think the Christmas Market is a great idea but we are living in a very different world this year.
If Covid rates soar in January and our restrictions are not eased this anger will be further compounded. Small businesses in Nottingham, particularly those in hospitality are really hurting. This flagrant disregard for all the efforts we have put in to being Covid-secure and the sacrifices we have made is so disappointing.”
Fran Bishop, who owns childrenswear chain Pud Store, added: “It was irrational witnessing it first hand today. I understand the market is a driver to support businesses in the city – but it seems at the expense of many others.”
Reports suggest a party broke out at the market yesterday evening, with scenes of overcrowding leading to police intervention.
The Nottingham Christmas Market attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year and is one of the busiest times for the event’s home in the city’s Old Market Square.
After announcing that this year’s market would go ahead, councillor Sam Webster, portfolio holder for finance, growth and the city centre said: “Despite the restrictions, challenges we’ve all faced and the need to do things differently this year, having a Christmas market is important for local people and the city’s local economy. It invites people into the city centre for a bit of festivity, to enjoy what the Christmas market traders can offer and encourages people to visit our other retailers in the city centre. We’re working with retailers and our public transport providers to stay open later to prevent overcrowding, keep visitors safe on their way in and out of the city centre and during their visit.”
