Eurovision: Pier Head street trader told to pay £6,000 during contest

Patsy Murphy's food stall is located on the waterfront

A council has defended asking a street trader to pay £6,000 to operate during Eurovision or face having to move.

Patsy Murphy said she was shocked to receive a letter saying Liverpool City Council had temporarily suspended all existing street trading licenses in the Pier Head area.

She has run the Deli food stall at the waterfront location since 2010, selling hot food and drinks.

Her pitch falls within what will be the Eurovision Village.

Council chief executive Theresa Grant told BBC Radio Merseyside the current licenses were not appropriate for an event of Eurovision's size.

She said all traders on the village site needed to adhere to other conditions including not using single-use plastics, and be cashless.

She said the footprint of the village would have meant the Deli would have had to be relocated in any instance.

"It's also in that license that it can be suspended for a short period, or for major events, and that's made very clear in the license which the vendors have signed," she said.

Ms Grant said the £6,000 license cost was a good commercial proposition and the council had strong interest from other vendors, adding: "More than half of the traders who have come forward are from the local area, so we aren't just pushing out local people to take people outside of Liverpool in."

The official Eurovision Village is at Liverpool's Pier Head

She added: "In the interest of fairness and equity we can't charge some people one rate and other traders a different rate. The pitch price is the pitch price."

Ms Grant said it was a "myth" traders had not been consulted and that council licensing officials had met with them in person.

She said: "I don't want to see the traders disgruntled the way they are - I think there is profit to be made, and everyone can share in that.

"This is a big event for the city, the likes of which we will never see again. We are putting our best foot forward and we need to focus on the positives."

The Deli has been offered an alternative pitch on Riverside Drive - a main road into the city, but over three miles (4.8km) away from the waterfront.

Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena has been transformed for the Eurovision Song Contest

Ms Murphy said: "I am actually still in shock.

"We do all the events, because we are effectively sitting tenants. We've never experienced anything like this - we've never been moved out of the area.

"Plus, for me to pay £6,000 I would have to hike my prices up. What would I say to my regular customers?"

"We were informed but weren't part of any consultation in a formal way.

"When we applied for our license the whole purpose was to provide hot and cold food. There was never a discussion about big events - if I'd have known I could be moved out for big events I wouldn't have signed up to do this in the first place."

Ms Murphy said she understood her business was one of two affected by the decision.

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