Nottingham City Council says there will be no change to the situation faced by traders at the Victoria Market for at least another month. The authority is also asking for posters about the uncertainty on the venue's future to be taken down, having recently been put up by traders.
The posters criticise the amount of time that traders at the market have been waiting for a decision on its future. One of them read "60 weeks and still waiting for a decision", but Nottingham City Council now says nothing will change before the end of April.
Nottinghamshire Live first reported on uncertainty about the historic venue in January 2022, when it was revealed that Nottingham City Council was in "ongoing discussions" with its asset managers, Global Mutual. A consultation was then held between April and June last year and, since then, Nottingham City Council has been in talks about compensation offers with the 30 remaining traders in the event of the market's closure.
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Despite traders saying they were originally given a February 24 date by which the council was due to surrender the lease, this deadline has now passed without any further clarity being given. One of those affected is John Easom, owner of the Gold Bank Jewellers, who says he is angry about being told by the council to take the posters down.
He said: "We paid £300 for those posters and so it was a bit poor of them to be honest. At the moment we're standing firm and the posters are staying up, we're taking them down at night and putting them back up in the day so the council don't remove them in-between.
"We've been waiting all this time for some clarity on our future but, as soon as we put some posters up, the council seems to move very quickly. We just don't know what else we're supposed to do at the moment to try and get some answers."
Confirming that it wants the posters to be taken down, a Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: "We do appreciate traders' frustrations with the current situation, but we have asked for posters that have been put up in communal areas and on some stalls without permission to be removed. That's because they are in breach of the tenancy/licence agreements with the council."
The authority also says it has told traders that it will provide them with an update before the end of April or sooner if it has "further information to share". But a spokesperson added: "We understand that uncertainty about the market's future is uncomfortable and unhelpful for traders.
"While we are negotiating with Global Mutual, it is unfortunately impossible to give them a definitive answer. To try to provide some short-term certainty, we have guaranteed there will be no changes before the end of April."
The market, located in the Victoria Shopping Centre, has been operating for more than 50 years and, at one point, boasted more than 200 stalls. Nottingham City Council first recommended in August 2022 that it should end the current lease for the market to save more than £39 million.
A spokesperson for the Victoria Centre said: "The market is run and operated by Nottingham City Council and they have been – and remain - fully responsible for all decisions regarding its future. Following extensive talks with the council, and following the outcome of the public consultation, an agreement had been reached with them for an early surrender of their lease, with plans put in place to support and offer certainty to those stall holders wishing to remain in the centre.
"We have recently been informed by the council that the early lease surrender cannot be progressed at this time, meaning that the market will remain open and will continue to trade at least until the end of April. We recognise that the council's decision places stallholders in a challenging and uncertain position and are fully sympathetic to that.
"We are hoping to continue an open dialogue with Nottingham City Council and have asked them to clarify their long-term position regarding the continued operation of the market and the financial investment that it requires from them."
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