Despite the odd, expected, bone of contention, Birmingham City Council maintains that it is business as usual down on the market floor, with trade looking reasonably healthy. “We are 90 per cent let, which is the highest it’s been for a long time,” says the market’s estate officer, Mick Taylor. “There have been very few casualties in the last three or four years and where we have lost any companies it would appear to be bad management rather than anything wrong with the market.”
Taylor even puts a positive spin on the noticeable decline in trade visiting the market - naturally an issue of deep concern to many traders. “The activity is going down with people ordering on computers, so there’s not the same volume of people coming down on foot but this gives a false impression,” he says. “The traders are still getting good business.” Simon Hughes, the council’s senior officer for markets, agrees, saying: “When I look around at some of the firms it seems there is a lot of investment, a lot of confidence in the market.”
However, the vast majority of traders have more than a few gripes with the status quo. Martin Haines, md of G Haines & Son, harbours concerns over the ratio of traders to customers. “There are too many wholesalers for the amount of retailers,” he says. “Retailers have been going out of business but not wholesalers, so something’s got to give. The market needs to be leaner but how that’s going to come about I don’t know.”
Other complaints include the inadequate security and policing, insufficient parking and unloading facilities, the poorly-built roof providing minimal insulation, excessive trading hours and the length of the working week, the lack of an internal weighbridge for delivery vehicles, and the scarcity of bins, resulting in an irresponsibly haphazard approach to rubbish removal.
Mack director Phil Howard says the market currently falls shamefully short of acceptable health standards, which is an insult to the customers it seeks to serve. “It’s outgrown itself,” he says. “We would attract new customers if we had a cleaner environment. The caterers’ premises are immaculate and they have to come here and see it like this. I think the wholesale industry has stopped at a certain standard but it could so much better.” Matthew Archer, md of Haluco Ltd, agrees: “It is not beneficial to be in a market that’s 30 years old when the only money that’s gone into it during that time is what the individual traders have spent. It was only meant to last 20 years, which you can see by the buildings.” At the same time he advocates the need for individuals to invest in the future of their business, so the trade is seen to be moving with the times.
“The market needs better refrigeration facilities to keep stock refrigerated until it’s sold,” he says. “We have spent a lot of money on refrigeration. We have better forklift trucks and banana rooms. Some traders might be reluctant to do that but you have to invest in any business if you want to go forward. They may say they can’t afford it but they all seem to find the money for new cars. If they don’t look to the future, there is no future. We have seen that with the car industry.”
However, some suggest efforts to rejuvenate the current site may not be worthwhile. “The market is in a time warp but redevelopment is pointless,” Haines claims. “You’d be doing it up for the same people to come in, not to attract any new ones.” And, the likelihood of effecting real change is not guaranteed even after the issues have been raised, says Paul Cherry, of R and RW Bartlett. “The council is trying to get on top of hygiene at the moment but they are on it one day and not the next,” he says. “There are not enough people making the effort to get things done.”
Meanwhile, with the tenants’ occupancy agreements due to expire in 2009, rumours of relocation are rife. Some traders are hoping to stay; others are certain their city days are numbered; but all seem united in their desire for an official notice and agree the assurance of a guaranteed future is a little more pressing than a leaking roof or the number of bins on site.
“We all feel in the dark, no-one knows anything,” says Martin Spooner of DJ Spooner. “We had a letter saying our leases will be up in 2009 and that’s all we know. Yes, we have liaison officers but they don’t know anything. And it looks to us like the council isn’t saying anything because they don’t want to look stupid.”
Mark Tate, of George Perry, says the council is being overly cagey and that like his fellow-traders he is anxious for a concrete verdict. “We would like to see the council decide now whether they are going to find us another site. It seems the options are they either move us or only offer us a 12 month roll-over lease and then they could all of a sudden turn around and say that we are all out.”
Taylor claims the traders have no cause for concern and, contrary to popular belief, the council is not scheming away behind closed doors. To the question of how long the market will remain in its current location, he replies: “How long is a piece of string? We will be here for another five years. They think there is some kind of agenda but there isn’t anything to report yet. There’s nothing alarming for the trade. They are a bit mischievous. They know we have been open and honest.”
While the industry at large is likely to experience considerable changes in the coming years, in financial terms alone it would be counter-productive to make any hasty decisions. “There are 100 businesses on here which is a lot to be bought out and compensated,” says Taylor. “It’s a massive task but there are people investing and they wouldn’t be doing that if they thought we’d be going. Like London markets we are looking at the future. When the tenants ask me what’s happening I say to them, ‘I believe it will be you who makes the decision’. Development around Birmingham is slow moving so it’s not going to affect the market.”
Parmjit Bhogal of Pam Exotics agrees people need not worry for the foreseeable future. “This kind of talk has been going on for many years but we are still here,” he says. “I can’t see the market moving because they would have to find a site and then build it, which will take about 10 to 15 years.”
By contrast, several tenants believe the council are shrewd enough to appreciate the potential value of the occupied land. “For years they’ve said they wanted this land for a green belt, a picnic area for offices,” says Tony Fossett of FDP. John Liszewski, md of George Jackson, says it is only a matter of time before the council cashes in on its asset. “With only four years left on the lease they must have some idea what they are going to do with it,” he says. “I can’t see us staying here. The amount the council draws from here is a pittance compared to what they could draw from it. They have built apartments all round the area. The people buying the places must have researched the council’s plans for the area.”
Having resigned himself to the prospect of moving, Liszewski has great aspirations for the new site. “I hope we move to a market that’s designed with a big impact from the tenants, a market that’s run by a more efficient management,” he says. Cherry agrees the traders should be autonomous. “I would like to see ownership within the companies and the council, rather than just the council, with us having a lot of say in the running of the market,” he claims. “No-one knows what is going on, it would be so much better if we ran the place ourselves.”
Matt Kelly, the city council’s head of operations for the markets, suggests relocating to somewhere out of the city-centre could pave the way for the construction of a monster ‘Midlands’ market’, with the capacity to serve a wider sphere of customers. Archer agrees that being part of a more substantial market would be a positive move, and says somewhere near Birmingham’s NEC arena, with good motorway access would be an ideal location.
However, not all traders are singing from the same hymn sheet with regards to the move. “This is already the Midlands market, but it needs to be kept in Birmingham because 65-70 per cent of our trade is Asian trade, based here, and you have to cater for the trade that’s there,” says Tate. “It’s no good sticking us in the back of the beyond, on an industrial estate. It’s good motorway access we need.”
“I don’t think the ethnic trade would move with us since most are within two or three miles of the city centre,” Cherry adds. “Customers coming from further afield could also be affected, he says. “The people from Worcester would have difficulty if we move the wrong side of the city.” The retail markets would also be disadvantaged, says Craig Parkes of Fyffes. “At the moment forklift drivers take their stuff straight up to the market steps so they will have to buy vans or lorries, which could threaten their livelihoods,” he says. “Some of them don’t have a driving license.”
Florists might also be reluctant to travel, according to Del Sharpe, partner of First for Flowers. “Location is everything,” he says. “Within five years we are going to have a congestion charge. I know it; everyone knows it. But if we move too far florists are not going to come in three times a day.”
Sharpe says flower traders could be hit particularly hard by the move but agrees that a little ‘streamlining’ among the pitches could be beneficial for the fitter companies which survive.
However, despite relying on the trade opportunities presented by the fruit and vegetable buyers, it may no longer be sensible to exist on an integrated market, he says. “The opening hours are not convenient for the flower trade. More and more people are choosing to have the Dutch wagons deliver. They don’t want to come into the market - especially not the women. The market is still very old-fashioned in a lot of ways. It might be better for us to look at getting ourselves an independent site or investing in more delivery vans.”
Haines, meanwhile, retains a more balanced view of the consequences. “If we move a mile or two down the road we are still close to the centre but in a much cheaper area,” he says. “I wouldn’t like to move too far away because we have too many good customers in the inner city and they can get here in five minutes. I wouldn’t like to make it too hard for them or they might look at the other option of companies that deliver straight to them. At the end of the day we might gain the odd customer and lose the odd customer but we’re only talking about a 10 mile radius of the city.”
Whatever the outcome, Tate says the move would likely prove a make or break situation for several traders on the market. “There are only about 10 companies who will go for a move because you’ve got to put the money up front and a lot of people here won’t be able to afford to do that.” Liszewski agrees, but welcomes the opportunity for a face-lift. “The market will naturally scale itself down but to justify a decent size of the new site, it will probably have to be something like a “food park”, for cash and carry pitches with people like wine merchants on site,” he says.
Such diversification is key to the survival of the trade, he concludes. “It might change the spirit of the place, but that’s just something we would have to face. There is still a trade but it’s changing and we’ve got to change with it.”
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