Farmers' market in Brixton

[Ms T]

I should have known better with the apples though. Just had "must buy what's on the list" in my head without actually thinking about what was in season. Ie nothing much when it comes to fruit. Doh.

 

[editor]

Asparagus, that's what the farmers' market should be selling now.

We had some from the market today!

 

[fortyplus]

Bolted leeks meet no-ones expectations. Basically they are inedible, hard, uncookable and woody. The growers know that.

Yes. Leeks are bound to have bolted at this time of year. Shouldn't be selling them.

 

[Ms T]

I am going to complain to them next week.

 

[Ol Nick]

I should have known better with the apples though. Just had "must buy what's on the list" in my head without actually thinking about what was in season. Ie nothing much when it comes to fruit. Doh.

Mangoes! (Obviously not Kent mangoes though.)

Strawberries (more or less).

And soon the berries will start.

 

[editor]

Lambeth are closing the farmers market at the end of the month. No reason given.

Petition launched to save Brixton Farmers Market as council unexpectedly announce imminent closure

 

[DJWrongspeed]

???? WTF, there's a reason somewhere, someone must know something. It could potentially move to Electric Avenue perhaps?

 

[editor]

???? WTF, there's a reason somewhere, someone must know something. It could potentially move to Electric Avenue perhaps?

I don't think a move has been scheduled.

 

[teuchter]

So... I see a petition has been launched to save the Farmers' market.

Lambeth Council: Help save Brixton Farmers Market.

I'm guessing it's been set up by the profit-making company that runs it and dozens of other markets across London?

It states how important this farmers' market is to the local community.

Fun to read the first few pages of this thread and discussions about whether the introduction of a farmers market to Brixton represented gentrification, whether it would be priced beyond the means of the local community, what kind of people it would attract to Brixton, whether it was greenwash, how it would compete with the traditional market holders, some comment about existing stallholders who seemed to be moved on to make way for it.

If it's true that the petition was set up by the city-based company that profits from the market, it'll be interesting to see how unquestioningly the "local community" supports it.

 

[happyshopper]

So... I see a petition has been launched to save the Farmers' market.

Lambeth Council: Help save Brixton Farmers Market.

I'm guessing it's been set up by the profit-making company that runs it and dozens of other markets across London?

It states how important this farmers' market is to the local community.

Fun to read the first few pages of this thread and discussions about whether the introduction of a farmers market to Brixton represented gentrification, whether it would be priced beyond the means of the local community, what kind of people it would attract to Brixton, whether it was greenwash, how it would compete with the traditional market holders, some comment about existing stallholders who seemed to be moved on to make way for it.

If it's true that the petition was set up by the city-based company that profits from the market, it'll be interesting to see how unquestioningly the "local community" supports it.

My understanding is that the commercial enterprise that organises a number of (so-called) farmers' markets and originally established the one in Station Road, decided a year or so ago to drop the one in Brixton. So for the past few months it has been run independently by Brixton Market Traders' Federation.

 

[teuchter]

My understanding is that the commercial enterprise that organises a number of (so-called) farmers' markets and originally established the one in Station Road, decided a year or so ago to drop the one in Brixton. So for the past few months it has been run independently by Brixton Market Traders' Federation.

Ah - I see. Do we know why they dropped the Brixton one?

 

[shygirl]

It'll be a precursor to putting an end to the Brixton Market Traders' Fed running the Saturday markets. Fucking Lambeth Council.

 

[editor]

My understanding is that the commercial enterprise that organises a number of (so-called) farmers' markets and originally established the one in Station Road, decided a year or so ago to drop the one in Brixton. So for the past few months it has been run independently by Brixton Market Traders' Federation.

The London Farmers' market site bears that out: it just says

Brixton Farmers’ Market
This market is no longer open
London Farmers' Markets | Brixton Farmers' Market

Whereas the Brixton Station Rd market site is up and says:

The Brixton Farmers’ market is still running in Brixton Station Road on Sundays, from 9.30am to 2pm.

The person to contact is Lee. You can get in touch with him @BrixFM on twitter. Or by email at griffin-kendall-cox@hotmail.co.uk.

It’s great for a lunchtime snack on a Sunday. And of course it’s full of useful groceries, including fresh fruit and veg straight from the soil, and cheeses, flowers, meat, poultry, artisan bread, and cakes
Farmers’ Market – Brixton Market Traders Federation

 

[ViolentPanda]

Ah - I see. Do we know why they dropped the Brixton one?

"Poor footfall".

 

[lefteri]

My understanding is that the commercial enterprise that organises a number of (so-called) farmers' markets and originally established the one in Station Road, decided a year or so ago to drop the one in Brixton. So for the past few months it has been run independently by Brixton Market Traders' Federation.

That's probably why lambeth were able to get rid of them without having to take on a big company

 

[editor]

"Poor footfall".

You'd think it would be up to the traders to decide what's a poor footfall for their company. It sounds like they don't want to go so they must have been doing alright.

 

[organicpanda]

for the last 18 months or so it has been run as a CIC by the traders themselves, poor footfall has nothing to do with this. Lambeth were getting all their money in full and on time and that is their only concern regarding the market, it is up to the market traders if they decide the footfall is not enough to sustain a business. One of the reasons LFM pulled out was the potential for disruption with the work on the Arches, and that Lambeth were going to be reviewing all the markets in Brixton and they didn't like the uncertainty. My feeling is that this is much more to do with Lambeth's 'vision' of the future

 

[ViolentPanda]

You'd think it would be up to the traders to decide what's a poor footfall for their company. It sounds like they don't want to go so they must have been doing alright.

The company that fucked off decided the footfall was "poor", because sales by the stalls didn't really justify the company's fees (and supposed expenditure). Actual footfall as it matters to the stallholders has been fine.

 

[shygirl]

Lambeth can fuck off if it thinks its gonna get rid of the all the markets (as they currently are) . They're a shower of c...s and they won't be happy til Brixton resembles Spitalfields.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Lambeth can fuck off if it thinks its gonna get rid of the all the markets (as they currently are) . They're a shower of c...s and they won't be happy til Brixton resembles Spitalfields.

What, dead, soulless and full of braying cunts called Jasper or Tabitha?

 

[shygirl]

That's the one

 

[lefteri]

Strange times indeed when a farmer's market is having to be defended against the forces of regeneration

 

[Twattor]

My understanding is as VP's. Farmer's market didn't get enough fees irrespective of the traders being happy with footfall. Traders bought them out. Traders are happy. I don't understand why this is happening unless there is a contractual requirement to serve notice

 

[organicpanda]

traders didn't buy them out, LFM pulled out and then the traders went to Lambeth to continue there

 

[teuchter]

Here is what Lambeth say. As ever, things appear not be as simple as presented in some quarters.

Love Lambeth

Brixton Farmers’ Market remains an important community asset, and Lambeth Council are determined that it will remain open, running and in community hands.



To guarantee its future the Brixton Market Traders Association has been approached to manage the market in the future.

Those discussions are ongoing, but guarantees will be made to current traders that despite any changes to the Brixton Farmers’ Market management structure, their ability to operate on an ongoing basis will not change.

The recent action taken by council officers has focused solely on the need to ensure that the market remains community led, and we want to ensure that the traders themselves have say in the ongoing development of the market.

Since the original operators of the Sunday Farmers Market on Brixton Station Road pulled out 18-months ago we have been working hard to support the stall holders who were determined to continue trading.

The council entered into a licence agreement with the traders at that time. The agreement encouraged the traders to get together to form a Community Interest Company (CIC) and work in partnership with the council and other community organisations to sustain and further develop the Sunday market.

Unfortunately the trader-led CIC management model failed to materialise, despite council support.

It also appears that the market was being managed as a commercial enterprise, in breach of the licence agreement. As a result the council has decided to not renew the current trading licence, and instead revise or amend the market management structure.

The focus is on ensuring the market management model is community led, and the council is not seeking to close the market. We hope to have a new management structure in place by the end of April.

 

[organicpanda]

I hadn't realised that the traders hadn't followed through on the setting up of the CIC, having seen how much paperwork is involved I'm not surprised. When I talked to them the contract was always up for renewal at the end of this month along with all the markets run by Lambeth

 

[editor]

Lambeth really need to sort out their communication skills.

 

[teuchter]

I hadn't realised that the traders hadn't followed through on the setting up of the CIC, having seen how much paperwork is involved I'm not surprised. When I talked to them the contract was always up for renewal at the end of this month along with all the markets run by Lambeth

Looks like it has been being run by these people

Griffin & Kendall (@GKandC) | Twitter

who also run a farmers' market at the Horniman.

The question I'm most interested in: why do Lambeth want it to be run by a CIC? Is it because they think it's the sort of thing people want to see - community run ventures instead of commercial ones? On the surface it seems like the kind of thing people here are often banging on about - community good, commercial evil. But I can see that from the traders point of view they might rather pay a certain amount for the thing to be run professionally, instead of having to be involved in the paperwork and responsibility and time commitments themselves. Something perhaps portrayed in the failure to get a CIC off the ground.

 

[snowy_again]

A CIC is a relatively old fashioned structure - but one which allows trading "profits" or surplus to be taken out and distributed to members.

 

[organicpanda]

the gumpf to set up a CIC runs to nearly 200 pages, and when I was involved in looking at setting one up with one of the market traders we both realised that more time would be spent on the paperwork than on actually running the market so when someone else came in we backed off