To hear from Shade Abdul, Chair of the Southwark Black Business Network and Tina Daley on insights from traders on East Street and impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis on black businesses.
Minutes:
The commission then heard from Shade Abdul, Chair of the Southwark Black Business Network and Tina Daley on the impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis ion East Street traders and black businesses.
· Importance of shopping in East Street markets compared to shopping in high street retailers in the wake of the cost-of living crisis
· Impact of the decrease in spending by customers and rising business costs; Extreme economic hardships leading to East Street traders resorting to creating publicity in the media and protests planned for the next day (7 March 2023) outside Southwark Council Offices on Tooley Street
· Increase in rent on council owned properties and decrease in foot-fall on East Street with no increase in pitch sizes for traders, leading to closures of some businesses.
· Comparison of prices at East Street market who cater to low income people compared to Borough Market, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s.
· No advertising support for East Street Traders; Increase in rent for pitches from £312 to £380 monthly without any increase in size of pitches for trading
· Need for the Council to invest in and supports places like East Street traders to make it more attractive to visitors
The commission then asked questions around the following points.
· Comparison of post Covid recovery of Business Improvements Districts (BIDs) like South Bank and Blue Bermondsey to East Street traders
· Publicity needed in terms of what the individual areas in the borough have to offer to local people and visitors
· Existing Council support for traders in the local economy; freeze on rent prices for traders
· Lack of variety in trading on East street leading to decrease in foot fall; Lack of one hour free parking for people with mobility issues; Lack of Evening or night Markets
Tina informed the commission that East Street market has been around for a long time, other areas such as Elephant Park and surrounding areas have been getting investment. East Street Market needs more publicity by advertising with regards to its history.
Tina explained to the commission that there is no freeze on rent prices and also that there is no support for East Street traders from the council, in addition traders face challenges such as parking charges amounting to £490 per year for their trailers and customers have to pay £4.80 an hour for parking; bus routes through Wharf road are due to be closed. The number of East traders have decreased from 260 to 80.
The commission learnt from Tina that around East Street the council has been renting out properties that have mainly been turned into stores that are selling Afro-Caribbean produce which is predominantly owned by a single family, thus attracting just that demographic of shoppers, toy stores and florists have disappeared from the shops on East Street. Traders have parking for a limited time between 9am-12am and customers have no free parking at all. Tina informed the Commission that East Street traders were keen to have a Night Market or an evening market, however Council’s management staff finish work by 5 pm and there is no one left to manage the spaces for traders.
The commission then asked further questions on the following themes.
· Fundamentals for investment in place; Comparison between issues faced by East Street traders and other businesses in the Southwark Black Business Network
· Council’s role in promoting East Street market as a cultural and festival market
· Trader’s role in managing tidiness of their stalls; Homes deliveries of Fruit and Veg from East Street
Tina explained to the commission she herself has been a trader on East Street for almost 40 years and they have had no issues with council charges until now; investing in places would mean looking at the future of the entire community and East Street has been forgotten in that respect with no investment whatsoever. In addition there also seems to be a trend of organisations using cost-of-living crisis as an excuse to raise prices hurting local businesses.
Shade informed the commission that Southwark Black Business Network is quite a new organisation and funding from the council such as Southwark Pioneer’s Fund is quite challenging for businesses to get access to; as it’s required for the businesses to have to develop and gain expertise by attending courses, which is quite challenging whilst running a full time business.
The commission learnt from Tina that in 2015-2016 she had helped organise festivals but since the change in management of the site there has been a lack of interest in this aspect from the management. In the past traders have added their monies in addition to the money provided by the council management for hosting festivals for the community.
Shade informed the commission that it’s important to look at changing demographics within the community and more research is needed in terms of insights into the changing needs of the public within the community, and also visitors that could be potential customers.
Tina explained to the commission that issues that have been raised in the past of vegetables lying on the ground has now been resolved by raising the displays to a height. Home deliveries are carried out by East Street traders on certain days and only when they have more resources to run their stalls. However there are issues with management not adequately monitoring stalls leading to some licensing issues with shops displaying products beyond the limits allowed to them by the council.