The chairman of the Scottish Showmen’s Guild has called on Fife Council to consider reducing its charges for pitches at the Lammas Market in St Andrews amid fears that Europe’s oldest surviving street fair is under threat.
George Codona, a seventh generation showman whose family is synonymous with Scotland’s funfair industry, has warned that more showmen will “go to the wall” unless the costs of attending such events are reduced.
Mr Codona said: “It’s getting to the point where rising fuel, insurance and rent mean the whole industry is becoming unviable. Rent is the only thing we can have any influence over.”
A Freedom of Information request by The Courier has revealed that the council received more than £255,000 in rent from the market between 2005 and 2013.
Of this, more than £109,000 went to the St Andrews Common Good Fund.
The Lammas Market, which dates back to medieval times, takes place annually on the second Monday and Tuesday in August, when showmen from all over Britain set up their stalls and funfair rides in Market Street and South Street.
But earlier this year councillors were warned that complaints about rising costs and high rents could cast the future of the well-attended fair into doubt.
In 2008, the market made a profit of about £2,000. Last year this amount was around £19,500.
For the past three years the rental for the showmen has stayed constant but they have complained that the amount charged is still the highest in the country.
In recent years this has led to obvious gap sites at the market, prompting a review in order to sustain the event.
Mr Codona said some showmen packed up and went home during this year’s event because it “wasn’t worth their while”.
Grant Ward, the council’s head of leisure and cultural services, said he had “every confidence” that the 2015 fair will go on.
He added that, while the stance charges have yet to be agreed: “There’s a local political and community consensus that these should be at least held at 2014 rates, and possibly even reduced.”
Though that would mean less cash for the Common Good Fund, its outgoings have reduced considerably following the end of a loan agreement linked to the former Byre Theatre Ltd, he said, adding that work is continuing “to ensure a viable and sustainable future for this much-loved event.”