{"id":420444,"date":"2025-09-13T06:48:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T06:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/420444\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T06:48:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T06:48:21","slug":"thousands-back-st-nicks-market-traders-as-they-fight-councils-controversial-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/420444\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands back St Nick’s Market traders as they fight council’s controversial plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

“We don\u2019t feel we\u2019ve been properly heard. They\u2019ve listened to us, but they are not hearing what we are saying”\"StSt Nicholas Market trader Lynn Hanby, who runs Aardvark arts and crafts, with a petition against increases in rents that has been signed by thousands(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n

Market stall holders and street food businesses at Bristol\u2019s iconic St Nick\u2019s Market<\/a> say they are facing a battle for survival, as city council bureaucrats want to hike the rents to extract another quarter of a million pounds a year from the venue. Thousands have signed a petition calling on the council to think again<\/a>, and the stallholder leading the campaign said she and the other businesses are \u2018overwhelmed\u2019 by the show of support from people in the city.<\/p>\n

Lynn Hanby said if the rent hikes and overhaul of the system proposed<\/a> by Bristol City Council<\/a> officers goes through, it will \u2018put many stallholders out of business and change the entire nature of the market\u2019 forever.<\/p>\n

The council has been involved in a ten-month back and forth consultation process with St Nick\u2019s Market since the end of last year, but Bristol Live understands an impasse has been reached, which sparked Lynn and other traders to launch a petition and a campaign to save the market.<\/p>\n

Bristol Live reported back in December that the council was first proposing<\/a> a new system of collecting rents based on taking 15 per cent of each stall\u2019s turnover. That proposal met fierce resistance from the market stallholders, so a second proposal was made by the council – to make the system fairer by setting rents based solely on the square foot area each stall takes up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all for making the rents fairer, but the issue is the council are using this change to take more money from St Nick\u2019s,\u201d said Lynn, who has run the Aardvark arts and crafts stall for 34 years. \u201cAt first they said they wanted this process to bring an extra \u00a3115,000 a year to the council, and then they moved the goalposts and said they want it to increase the amount the council receives by \u00a3265,000,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"StSt Nicks Market’s Glass Arcade(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n

St Nick\u2019s Market attracts a whopping 3.7 million visitors every year, features in pretty much every Bristol tourist video blog, and is regularly cited in all the \u2018spend a day in Bristol\u2019 travel guides. It has three distinct areas – a traditional market stall set-up in the main Exchange Hall building, a Covered Market that is mainly services and retail and the Glass Arcade where the famous street food stalls and businesses are.<\/p>\n

Over the decades, market managers have filled vacant stalls charging different rents, so there is a wide disparity in all areas with some stallholders paying more than others for similar spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome the idea of levelling it all out, but this should be done fairly in a way which keeps things affordable,\u201d said Lynn. \u201cThe first idea to simply take 15 per cent of turnover would have really badly affected the street food stalls<\/a>, which have a high turnover but low profit margins.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Fee hike for St Nick\u2019s Market traders as council plans to take a slice of their income<\/a>READ MORE: Fears fee hike at iconic Bristol market could force out popular food stalls<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe second idea to make it based on square foot would have hit those street food stalls with seating areas and the cafes. The issue is that the council are using this as a way to take more money. The market already makes the council money – they get \u00a355,000 more in rents every year than it costs the council to run the place, so we really don\u2019t understand why they need to raise that to \u00a3265,000,\u201d Lynn added.<\/p>\n

She said the council\u2019s proposals would mean many stallholders go out of business. \u201cUnder the new proposals, one or two would see a rent reduction, the average would be a 40 per cent increase, and some businesses would be paying 100 per cent more rent, or more,\u201d she said. \u201cMany businesses which are hit hardest simply won\u2019t survive and the council are not hearing that. That\u2019s going to change the nature of St Nick\u2019s,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"StSt Nicholas Market trader Lynn Hanby, who runs Aardvark arts and crafts, with a petition against increases in rents that has been signed by thousands(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n

Lynn and the other market traders said their anger is focused on the way the council has conducted the consultations. \u201cWe\u2019ve had phase one, which was the idea of a turnover percentage. We moved on to phase two, but in that, they made sure there was no way of agreeing to the idea of making the rents fairer through a simple square foot area system, without also agreeing at the same time to the massive rent hikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t feel we\u2019ve been properly heard. They\u2019ve listened to us, but they are not hearing what we are saying,\u201d added Lynn. \u201cThey are not really valuing St Nick\u2019s for its contribution to the city and all the tourists it brings in.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bristol barbecue restaurant Low & Slow named Uber Eats Restaurant of the Year finalist<\/a>READ MORE: New pasta bar to open at St Nick’s Market<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBristol is based on creativity and diversity and St Nick\u2019s is a little microcosm of that. We are paying our way, we make the council a surplus, so why they need to take more than a quarter of a million out of us, we don\u2019t know,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Paper petitions have been gaining thousands of signatures this week, and an online one has also passed 1,000<\/a>. They now hope the support will secure a debate at City Hall at which they will be able to put their points across to the councillors themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d just like to work with them on this and come up with a solution that everyone is happy with, but they don\u2019t seem to want to do that,\u201d said Lynn. \u201cWe have been overwhelmed by the support from the people of Bristol. It\u2019s been wonderful to see so many people signing the petition and saying they support us,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Queues in the Glass Arcade(Image: Bristol Live)What the council says<\/p>\n

Councillor Andrew Brown, Chair of the Economy and Skills Committee, said: \u201cWe have been working with the St Nicholas Market licence holders to understand their views on how we can introduce a new licence fee model that will mean the market will be financially sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been over a decade since the last fee review and our aim is to bring fees in line with equivalent UK markets and develop a model that is fair to the traders and fair to the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo phases of consultation were held with licence holders in March and June which informed detailed proposals for a new licence fee model at the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeedback from the second phase of consultation was used to inform the decision to introduce the proposed new fee model in stages over five years, allowing business owners to adjust gradually and have time to prepare. Adjustments could include changing their footprint in the market, for example, and the team are happy to engage with traders on a one-to-one level to help traders adapt. Proposed fee increases will vary across the market from 5 to 20 per cent per year.<\/p>\n

“I have also been clear that the situation should be kept under review, that the service should seek to find and expand other income streams, that funds should be reinvested into the market to improve its facilities, and that the Council’s property team should make better use of the upstairs space of the Corn Exchange to both increase income and footfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we meet later this month the Economy and Skills Policy Committee will consider all responses to the consultation before making a final decision on the proposals,” he added.<\/p>\n

Back in December, a document outlining the options was reported on by Bristol Live.<\/a> In it, a council officer explained the problems they were trying to sort out.<\/p>\n

Andrew Brown was elected for Hengrove and Whitchurch in 2021(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n

The report said: \u201cThe Glass Arcade has the lowest fees but this is the most lucrative element of the market, with 75 per cent of the 3.7 million visits in 2023. It is not reasonable for the most profitable element of the market to be charged the least.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is scope to invest in the market to provide better infrastructure for the current traders, through operational improvements and more effective emergency repairs. It may also be possible to put on events and night markets. However, this will require additional investment which is not justifiable when income targets are not being achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears that the current low fees are resulting in a low turnover of businesses within the market. Ensuring there are regular opportunities for new traders to take up, create and grow new market businesses is important to ensure a mixed and changing offer, encouraging customers to return again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“We don\u2019t feel we\u2019ve been properly heard. They\u2019ve listened to us, but they are not hearing what we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,799,3893,10648,748,393,786,4884,9419,12314,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-420444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-centre","10":"tag-bristol-city-council","11":"tag-bristol-live","12":"tag-britain","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-food-and-drink","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-places","17":"tag-shopping-in-bristol","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115195655879476963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}