TRADERS have told of their anger at plans for a new Christmas market in Henley.
The town council is organising the event to run from December 10 to Christmas Eve in a bid to encourage winter visitors.
It will involve 10 chalet-style wooden huts being installed in the Market Place that will stay in place during the weekly charter market.
But some stallholders have voiced their concerns over the move, saying it will lead to a reduction in space for them to trade.
They also claim that they were not adequately consulted on the plans and were not asked first if they wanted to use any of the huts.
Tracy Betteridge, 52, who runs Chiltern Lamb, has traded at the Christmas charter market for the last 10 years and is concerned about how all the regular stallholders would fit around the huts.
She said for many of the stall holders, the Christmas trade is “a significant chunk” of their income and is upset not to have been formally consulted.
Ms Betteridge said: “This is about putting food on the table and putting a roof over our head. Those of us who trade are all proper market traders that rely on that income.
“This is not a part-time job for us. For the majority of people trading, this is a significant chunk of their livelihood and not one of our normal traders has been given an opportunity to speak to the council before this went ahead.
“There will not be the space for the people who normally trade. I am absolutely fuming and so are some of the other traders.
“These are traders who support the council all year round and they should have offered spaces first. We have an existing market and we bring people to the town. It’s like we are insignificant.”
Stallholder Chloe Brownbill, of the Marlow Cheese Company, said she was unaware of the move and that the Christmas market would have an effect on traders.
She said: “It’s hard to accommodate small businesses to be there for two weeks if there’s not room for the normal set-up. It will be pretty full up because of all of the chalets. I can imagine it probably would affect the trade. If we’re not allowed to be there and do what we usually do, it will affect us.
“The council should definitely have contacted each company directly. Not so much to ask for our permission but they should at least be making people aware so I can plan to be somewhere else on those days.
“At Christmas, you probably take double or triple what you would usually take and that’s the same for most traders. I think it would affect a lot of the traders quite highly.
“I’m sure it will look lovely and it will look really pretty and it will be great for the tourists but it’s not good for other traders. They should have prioritised people who are regularly there.”
Paul Carey, the town centre manager, has been working on the Christmas market alongside the Creative Duck marketing agency to curate it.
Jo Eddon, who runs Honeys of Henley with husband Nigel, had received an email from the Creative Duck, which included an advert to apply to be part of the Christmas market, but knows other traders didn’t.
She said: “The biggest thing which I am so surprised by is the lack of forethought by the town council is that nobody approached the established traders.
“I wasn’t contacted by the town council. I only knew about the market because of my previous working history with the Creative Duck, I was subscribed to them.
“I know that I won’t be able to trade in one of the huts on the Thursday prior to Christmas because I haven’t been offered the week that I applied for.
“If I can’t trade on that Thursday prior to Christmas, I am going to lose a significant amount of my winter income. November and December trading carries us at the beginning of the next year.
“January is an exceptionally tough month to get good income and we depend on November and December to create our financial buffer. December especially is a crucial month for our financial income.
“It’s the unfortunate thing that the town council did not contact any of the traders to say, ‘would you like to be part of this application process’.
“None of them were signposted to that opportunity and that’s such a shame because our traders do a lot to promote Henley. They are integral to feeding the town.
“It’s not about, don’t have this fun, Alpine hut experience but it has been done with no forethought for the needs of the income of the established traders.
“There are going to be traders who miss out because you’re asking for three markets to sit into one space. I honestly don’t know physically how they are going to fit us in with the Alpine huts.”
Mr Carey said there had been a meeting with traders at the beginning of the year about the Christmas market and another would take place next month.
He said: “We are planning on there being five huts on one side of the Christmas tree, by Gail’s, and five on the other side, by Pavilion, so as to cause minimum effect on the charter market.
“Having discussed with the markets’ manager, the intention on market days is that the regular market traders will adapt to fit in with the Christmas huts.
“We are planning to have a meeting with market traders to discuss the Christmas market in more detail in early September.
“The Christmas market is a new initiative and is intended to bring visitors to Henley at the festive time of year as well as provide a seasonal gifting experience that complements Henley’s existing retail offering.
“As with any new initiative there is always a little change and adapting expected and we will be working closely with market traders over the coming weeks to ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible.”
