TODAY is the last day Gloucester Green market will look the way it looks in this photograph.
From next week, the Wednesday market will be managed by an outsourced body. We visited the mart and chatted to a few of the traders.
Oxford City Council’s official line is that there will be no price hikes at GloGreen. But the traders have a different view.
One told us that the Council had picked the best of a bad bunch to manage the market, but another, who we chatted to and who will remain anonymous was way more outspoken.
He said that the change had caused a price hike for his outfit of 33 percent. The Council, he said: “Basically washed their hands of the market five years ago.” The Council had neglected GloGreen and its basic aim was to chop costs, in line with the UK government’s directives.
He counted the ways the Council had raised the prices, charging £2 extra for “advertising”, while car park charges were also hiked.
“Don’t believe anything you read in the papers,” he said. “It’s all about cutting costs.”
We’ll visit GloGreen next week to observe the new configuration. ♥
