Bringing some colour and festive cheer

Oh dear Mr Lemberger! What a load of old twaddle you wrote the other week in the letters column.

You obviously don’t shop very often in Leamington because otherwise you would know that the Christmas Market is only set up to trade on Sundays. So where you get the idea that the Parade is closed to traffic for three months I don’t know. Perhaps your confusing us with the sewer works currently being done in town because from the tone of your letter I gather that is where you would like to see market traders put. And in what way does the Christmas market detract from the image of the town? A high street full of the same old chain stores that can be found in any town centre. Surely we bring a bit of colour and festive cheer to an otherwise bland shopping experience. I’m sure the major chain stores in the Parade quake at the sight of us on a Sunday as we set up our little stalls and syphon off all their customers and leave their tills empty at the end of the day.

Yes, we may not pay business rates or overpriced rents for the honour of gracing the towns Regency elegance but we do pay a hell of a lot of money in rent to be able to get on these markets. Each trader is vetted by the market operator to make sure that there is a diverse and high standard of goods on show to the public and for you to infer that we sell inferior goods compared to the shops is very offensive. I’m sure that the market operator will be over the moon that you think the stalls detract the quality of shopping in town considering that they have won various awards and are a major operator in the area.

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I personally sell Fair Trade goods from Bali, India, Indonesia and Tibet and at least I can say that the people who produce the items are paid a fair wage for all their hard work. How many chain stores can say that?

As for having a Christmas market on the Pump Rooms, if its not suitable to have a weekly market there why should Christmas be any different. And why should it be a foreign market? Isn’t it about time you supported local traders who are struggling to make ends meet in the current climate. If you want a foreign market might I suggest you hop on a plane at Christmas and support the Czech Republic traders who I’m sure will be only to happy to take your money from you. You may also be interested to know that Birmingham’s German market is also home to a lot of local traders some of whom trade at Leamington, Stratford, Bicester, Solihull and other towns in the area. Being foreign doesn’t make you a better market trader and your inference that because we’re local we’re somehow a class below them is highly offensive to me and other local traders.

I’d like to think that the repeat custom I have from people every year is a sign of my selling quality items at reasonable prices and giving good customer service. And just because I don’t have brick walls around my goods certainly doesn’t make me a second class business man. Who I might add was born, bred, educated and lives in Leamington. - Mike Cooke, Brunswick Street, Leamington.