Rent Guaranteed | Traders claim Oxford Covered Market rent rises threaten its survival

Rent Guaranteed | Traders claim Oxford Covered Market rent rises threaten its survival

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TRADERS say Oxford’s Covered Market is facing the most critical battle in its 200-year history as it fights for survival.

Talks with Oxford City Council aimed at finding a compromise on rent rises have collapsed.

The issue will now be dealt with by an independent arbitrator.Rent Guaranteed

The council, which runs the market, is proposing putting up the majority of tenants’ rents, some by as much as 70 per cent.

It announced the increase last year and negotiations have been taking place since then.

But Vicki Alder, of Macsamillion shoe shop in the market, said: “The market is in jeopardy. If the council were to get this rent increase I could see a great number of people who will not be able to afford it.”

Chris Farren, head of the Covered Market Traders’ Association (CMTA) and owner of The Cake Shop, said the two parties were still “miles apart”.

He said: “We have reached an impasse.

“No-one can deny it’s difficult trading conditions and it’s silly to push for such a massive increase. We’re talking up to 70 per cent here. It’s unsustainable.

“If the city council is successful, then many of the shops will simply not survive.

“This is the most important moment in the market’s history. If the council achieves the rent it’s aiming for, the market will change dramatically.”

Mr Farren, who pays £33,000 a year for his unit and is facing a £5,000 increase, said the new rents were due to come into force at the end of last year, meaning traders could end up owing arrears.

Last year one in six businesses in the market, which dates back to 1774, said they were looking to sell up.

Stephen Reeves, a partner at Central Business Agency, which handles the sale of the market’s leases, said: “Since then there has not been any great change in the number of units available.”

Two groups of traders have been negotiating separately – one made up of just four traders and another, headed by the CMTA, which represents the other 42.Rent Guaranteed

The rents for both groups will now be decided by an arbitrator at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Traders have now launched a petition – which gained more than 500 signatures in its first week – and a leafleting campaign to gather support.

Baron Robert Pouget, owner of the Oxford Cheese Company, said: “The city council has got a potential winner here, but it doesn’t appreciate the potential of what the market was and what it could be.”

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But city council leader Bob Price said he supported the market.

He said: “Clearly it is our aspiration to retain the Covered Market as a place where there are independent shops and a variety of different trades.

“The process for setting rents in the Covered Market is no different than for any commercial landlord.”

He added some of the retailers had already agreed their rent for the next five years with the council.

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “The council appointed a local chartered surveyor to advise on the rental values and there have been on-going negotiations between the council’s surveyor and the tenants’ appointed agents.

“Some of the reviews are going to arbitration and this is normal if a negotiated settlement cannot be reached.”

The petition can be found at ipetitions.com/petition/save-the-covered-market/
Stalls story

The creation of Oxford’s Covered Market was intended to rid the city’s streets of “untidy, messy and unsavoury stalls”.

Street markets in Fish Street, which is now St Aldate’s, and Butcher Row, which is now Queen Street, were stopped by the Oxford Mileways Act 1771, which also established a committee of six university and six city representatives to build a new market.

John Gwynn, the architect behind Magdalen Bridge, drew up the plans and designed the High Street front with its four entrances.

Originally the market was home almost exclusively to butchers, but expanded to sell the wide range of goods currently available.

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