Warwick traders say fairs don’t belong in town centre

The Mop, followed by the Runaway Mop, are due back on the streets over the weekends of October 17 and 24. The right to hold the old hiring fairs in the town date back to the 14th century.

On Wednesday, an amended licence to continue to run the events for the next ten years was renewed.

Among a raft of new conditions is that the current licence holder, Tommy Wilson, should try to work more closely with town centre traders - some of whom believe they might as well shut up shop when the fair is in town.

Chamber of Trade chairman Sue Butcher is keen to point out that none of the traders want to see the Mop abolished.

She said: “This may be an age-old tradition but the fact is these fairs have evolved into huge events with flashing lights and loud music. The increasingly bigger rides have become far too dominant and disruptive in the middle of this old town - a far better location would be somewhere like the racecourse.

“It’s not like the folk festival or the Victorian evening, which create no problems - these two weekend fairs are loud and disruptive and our customers actively avoid coming into Warwick.”

“Of course we want to see the Mop thrive but in its consultation ahead of issuing the new licence the district 
council has taken no account of our members’ views.”

As a result of the consultation exercise, during which council officers sent letters to some residents and spoke to people at the fairs last October, most seemed to indicate they had no problem with the Mops being in their present location.

To show fairness, officers also offered the licence up to any alternative fairground promoter. But Mr Wilson, who is a member of the Showman’s Guild, was the only applicant.

He has to pay an up front bond of £25,000 to cover any damages. And he is adamant the place for both fairs should remain right in the middle of the town.

But he has agreed to the new recommendations, including no live animals and including a careers stall for youngsters which offers a hint of the original purpose of the hiring fairs.

None of the new conditions go far enough for traders like David Way, who first opened his gift shop in Swan Street on a Mop weekend 37 years ago.

Mr Way said: “Although we shop owners have been asked for our views, we’ve been called a small minority in the survey. Yet most of us lose a fortune during the two Mop weekends because our customers avoid the town for two weeks.”

Neil Astill, who runs an art gallery in Market Street, has decided to close over the two weekends. He said: “I always lose the equivalent of two days trading during the fairs so this year I just won’t bother opening. Customers avoid the town and you can’t even hear on the telephone.”