News / St Nick's Market
Fee hike at St Nick’s could force out popular food stalls
A planned fee hike at St Nick’s Market could force out popular food stalls, councillors have warned.
Bristol City Council is considering changing how traders at St Nick’s pay rent, although the changes could soon prove controversial.
The fees the council currently charges cover the costs of running the market, and then some. The council is expected to make a surplus income of £55,000 this year.
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Nevertheless, a five per cent hike in fees next April was approved by councillors on the economy and skills policy committee on Monday. They also voted to consult the public on introducing a new turnover model, charging food traders around 15 per cent of their income.
A five per cent hike in fees was approved by councillors on Monday
Labour councillor Kye Dudd said: “The market is a fantastic place. Sometimes with consultants’ reports, they can often tend towards the suggestion that we need to go upmarket.
“But I think we need to do our best to try and maintain the character of the market as much as possible.”
Part of the reason behind the turnover model is to turn the market into more of an “incubator”, and encourage traders to grow their business and move elsewhere into bigger premises. Half of the stalls have been at the market for over a decade, with some more than two decades.
Councillor Dudd added: “It might be the case for some of the businesses that they go there, they want to be successful, grow and move on. But there are many there who are sole traders, they’re just happy to do their thing, make a living, and they don’t want to get any bigger.”
The average weekly fee for a businesses in the Glass Arcade is £123.93
A lot of space upstairs in the market is not used, and the historic building would need investment if this were also leased out to new traders. A survey has been commissioned to explore how much this would cost to do.
One fear is that driving up the fees for traders could force too many of them out, to the detriment of the market overall. The council will consult traders and the public for six weeks about the plan early next year, before any final decision is made.
Green councillor Jenny Bartle said: “That could end up chasing out the larger companies, so then we’ll potentially lose our big stalwarts. If that happens too much then we’ll have fewer people in the market. Maybe we’ll get new businesses coming in and it’s OK to have a bit of flux in who is occupying the market.
“But we don’t want to go as far as losing the anchor businesses. We don’t want to actively drive them out and make it ridiculous for them to stay. We need to be really cognizant of that.”
Moving to a turnover model has happened elsewhere on the high street, particularly since the pandemic, according to Alex Hearn, director of economy and place.
He said that way of charging rent was a “general shift that’s happening in hospitality and retail”.
Attracting 3.7 million visitors last year, St Nick’s in the Old City dates back to 1743 and hosts 63 independent traders, directly providing more than 130 jobs.
A further 50 traders set up at regular outdoor markets on Corn Street and Wine Street.
In the Exchange Hall, the average weekly fee for a business is £177.16; while in the Covered Market it’s £158.61 and in the Glass Arcade £123.93. The Exchange Hall is mostly retail, the Glass Arcade is food and drink and the Covered Market is mainly services and retail.
All photos: Martin Booth
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