{"id":631624,"date":"2025-12-14T09:14:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T09:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/631624\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T09:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T09:14:33","slug":"birmingham-christmas-market-axed-as-trader-says-ive-lost-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/631624\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham Christmas Market axed as trader says ‘I’ve lost everything’"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘If you\u2019re not out there in the area, nobody knows your name and people soon forget you’\"BoldmereBoldmere Christmas Festival: Families will not be making memories with the snow machine in 2025.(Image: Richard T Harris Photography)<\/p>\n

Traders told of their financial woes after a Christmas festival was axed following a cut in council funding.<\/p>\n

This year’s Boldmere Christmas<\/a> Festival was cancelled when a grant from Sutton Coldfield<\/a> Town Council was reduced.<\/p>\n

Organiser, not-for-profit community interest company Boldmere Futures, said the authority cut funding from \u00a37,000 last year to \u00a33,000 this year, leaving it unable to proceed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: 10 mince pie photos comparing Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons and Asda with Mr Kipling<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One affected stallholder was David Bridgewater, owner of dessert business The Crumble Hut. He said: “I\u2019ve lost everything. I\u2019ve lost valuable income – around \u00a31,000. I\u2019ll have to do two or three events to try to recover that sort of money. And I\u2019ve lost publicity. If you\u2019re not out there in the area, nobody knows your name and people soon forget you.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Crumble Hut hard at work.(Image: The Crumble Hut)<\/p>\n

\u201cBoldmere has always been good for us, and good events to work at aren\u2019t easy to find. These markets bring people into the area, and not only do I benefit, the community benefits. It has a big knock-on effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another trader, who would only be named as Sarah, is the owner of Baked in Boldmere. She said: \u201cMy children loved it. It was a safe environment for them to get a few Christmas presents and socialise with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA buzzing Boldmere Christmas Festival in previous years(Image: Richard T Harris Photography)<\/p>\n

Part-time pizza chef Joshua Beckreck, who owns Cart and Carriage Events, said: \u201cBoldmere High Street is a real hub for this area and it\u2019s a loss when we stop investing in it. Local people bump into each other after not seeing each other for a while, and it builds that sense of shared experiences, history, and belonging. We always need to invest in collective opportunities – they are great fun too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boldmere Futures chairman of directors Paul Long said: \u201cI\u2019m upset for the volunteers because volunteering gives people friendships. We have people who are at the festival from 8am until 9pm because they love doing it and meeting new people. The local businesses don\u2019t really make a lot, either. But they do it for the love of it. And these festivals keep Boldmere on the map.<\/p>\n

\"SarahSarah from Baked in Boldmere selling her homemade treats.(Image: Baked in Boldmere)<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year it gets better and better. The people attending are so happy and so grateful, and it really makes our day. There are so many great music acts, and everyone is in the street dancing to the songs. Kids are on their parents’ shoulders. We have fireworks. It\u2019s an event that makes memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organisation said it hoped the market would return next year and was working with the town council to look at a more sustainable funding option.<\/p>\n

\"CartCart and Carriage Events(Image: Cart and Carriage Events Joshua Beckreck)<\/p>\n

The council said: “We do not discuss publicly the detail in relation to individual applications, but there was no error or misunderstanding on the part of the Town Council in relation to the financial information submitted.<\/p>\n

“If an application is declined or a grant application is not supported in full, this detail is outlined in writing to the applicant. The Community Grant Scheme is generally oversubscribed and there is no guarantee the total amount applied for will be awarded.<\/p>\n

“Boldmere Futures CIC subsequently advised the Town Council it would not be taking up the funding for the festival this year, that volunteers are taking a break and instead concentrating on cultural action area projects and would be picking up the Christmas Festival again in 2026. The Town Council does not organise the Boldmere Summer or Christmas festivals.”<\/p>\n

Boldmere Futures CIC are currently seeking sponsors and can be contacted on info@boldmere.org for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘If you\u2019re not out there in the area, nobody knows your name and people soon forget you’Boldmere Christmas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,131060,748,195357,35745,393,4884,7829,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-631624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-christmas-events","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-businesslive","12":"tag-christmas","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-sutton-coldfield","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115717163405122192","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631624","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=631624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}