Sunday 17 December 2017

The Price Of Protest


It is fair to say that the media clout of the anti-renewal group far outweighs its relevance to the majority of traders but there is a cost associated with their “celebrity” push and unfortunately the public is now confused.

One of our traders complained this morning that he has had multiple questions from customers this weekend about how long the market is going to be closed during the renewal. One aspect of the anti-renewal group’s dialogue is their exaggeration and so terminology like “They are going to cause massive disruption and destroy our market” weigh heavily on the public psyche. No matter how you look at it, the negative language has portrayed the market in a negative way and that is difficult to correct (Note to management: at the right time a strong “We are trading” message would be great.)

Of course many called Saturday’s protest "a fizzer" with a crowd of about 300-400 (see our photo) at 11:30 gradually dwindling as passers-by realised that this wasn’t entertainment but just a political protest. The sad thing is that good money will now have to be spent to correct misinformation although traders can probably help by informing their customers that trade will be ongoing through renewal.