This Saturday will see the final market day for the people behind Levenshulme Market but doubts remain over the market’s future as negotiations with the council have yet to resolve the situation.
The market announced back at the beginning of June that they would be taking a break citing ongoing issues with our site licence agreement with Manchester City Council, the knock on effect of the pandemic and cost of living crisis, staff changes, a hacked Facebook page, a battle with left behind cars, increased fly tipping onsite and more
The council,say the traders have been looking to re-value the site that they trade on (a site which they own) in order to ask for additional fees from the weekly market.
They pay £7,000 to the council each year for our Market Rights Licence. This grants permission to run the market for one day a week each year between March and December
Negotiations between the market and the council have moved forward after initially them being quoted a five figure sun to continue,they have now been offered a profit sharing agreement with Manchester Council
The Market say that agreeing to this additional 25% profit share deal would lay the foundation for Manchester City Council to start charging other markets even more fees.
“We don’t think this is fair and certainly don’t want to be the market that is the catalyst to making things more difficult for our fellow markets.”
The market say that during the meeting, “We were made to feel like time wasting trouble-makers and there was certainly no acknowledgement made of the stress and strain this situation has caused us.”
They added that “ in a post-covid world and already difficult economic climate, we find ourselves being squeezed for money that should be reserved for reinvestment back into the Levenshulme community.”
In response Cllr Luthfur Rahman, Deputy Leader of the City Council, said:
“We believe that Levenshulme Market makes a significant contribution to the local community and is clearly a very popular attraction for local people.
“We understand how tough it is to make a market work at the moment. We have had to make the hard decision to close a number of Council-owned markets in recent years because of the ongoing challenges of making them viable.
“However, although the Council can’t subsidise a private business, we do want to support Levenshulme Market where we can. The profit-sharing deal means if the market doesn’t make any profit, they don’t pay for the site. As opposed to a flat licence fee, which they would be required to pay even if they make no money.
“Given the challenges to make a market viable, we would expect the costs to Levenshulme Market to operate as part of this deal to be minimal – and far below the market rate for a business to operate at a site such as this.
“This is a bespoke offer to Levenshulme Market and we feel it is a fair way to balance the commercial and social benefits of the market. It’s not a model that would be adopted at other markets in the city. And we have also offered to invest in signage for the market to help drive footfall.
“Our hope is that the market takes up the offer so they can continue to operate for the benefit of the local community.”
