Popular artisan market to close after nine years

The last day of the Rochester City Artisan Market is on Saturday

The organiser of a popular artisan open market in Kent says it is "not viable" to continue running the event due to a potential business tax bill that could be imposed on them.

Rochester City Centre Forum runs Rochester City Artisan Market, which has operated every second Saturday of the month for the past nine years.

Clare Tierney, chairperson of the forum, says it is "devastating" that the market's last day would be Saturday.

Councillor Harinder Mahil, Medway Council's portfolio holder for economic and social regeneration and inward investment, said it was "sad news" the market would no longer run.

Ms Tierney said talks with Medway Council began in January this year regarding the future of the artisan market and potential expansion into the Eastgate Quarter in the High Street.

"We were asked to formulate a legal framework around how we run the artisan market and our future plans," she said.

Ms Tierney said this meant the council has required the forum to pay a licensing fee to open the market, as well as a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) - which had not previously been a requirement.

Clare Tierney is the chairperson of the Rochester City Centre Forum

"But under the current rules we would need to seek a valuation from the VOA under the current business rate format."

Ms Tierney, who also owns the restaurant Smoqe in Rochester High Street, said a valuation has not been carried out yet.

She added the forum decided that based on the possibility of paying business tax, and other associated costs including licensing fee and TTRO, continuing the monthly artisan market would not be viable.

"We work extremely hard to run the market every month, it's a lot of work," she added.

"We do not believe it is worth putting in so much effort when we may get so little, or a negative balance, in return."

She added the money they have generated from the monthly artisan market over the years contribute to "beautifying the Rochester High Street", including street flowers and benches.

Ms Tierney said the forum would run two pre-Christmas artisan markets on the weekends of 15 and 22 November to support the Small Business Month in Rochester.

'A terrible loss'

Stuart Tranter, former mayor of Medway, was also part of the group behind the establishing of the Rochester City Artisan Market.

"It is sad to know the artisan market is closing, it is a terrible loss," he said.

Mr Mahil said the council had worked closely with the forum to support the market, and improving its governance and regulation.

"This includes the introduction of highways and licensing fees, which we agreed to heavily discount to support the market through a period of transition," he added.

"However, we understand that this alongside other factors contributed to the committee's decision to stop running the market."