Bath’s Christmas Market is to be drastically reduced this year after being hit by what organisers Bath & North East Somerset Council described as a ‘double whammy’ of Brexit and Covid.
The council said these two factors had led to a national shortage of logistics and security staff, as well as specialist equipment, making it impossible to run the market safely, securely and within reasonable cost.
The market, which was cancelled completely last year due to Covid restrictions, is ranked in the top 10 in Europe and attracts around 400,000 visitors a year, who bring in spending worth an estimated £32.5m to the city’s economy.
In July the council said it was to be extended for an additional seven days this year to support stallholders and traders and the city’s retail and hospitality sectors as they looked to recover from the impact of the pandemic on their businesses.
It would have been the first time it had run for 25 days in its 20-year history – although the number of stalls was due to be reduced from 205 to 161 to allow more space for visitors to move through the market during traditionally busy periods.
At the time the council also said it would invest £27,200 on improvements to the chalets.
However, the market will be reduced to a so far unspecified number of stalls in Kingston Parade and Abbey Green – with priority given to local traders – along with an independent artisan market in Queen Square.
All stallholders offered a place at the market will now be able to sell their goods via an online Bath Christmas Market.
The council said, had it gone ahead in its traditional format, the market this year would have needed around 50 contractor staff to build and run it on top of 30 security SIA guards, four medics and 27 coach marshals per day – numbers that would have made it unviable with current manpower shortages.
Council cabinet member for children and young people, communities and culture, Dine Romero, said: “I hope these plans will be welcomed by all who love Bath and who love Christmas.
“We have reshaped our Bath at Christmas programme to attract residents and visitors and we hope as many as possible will be able to enjoy this festive programme of events in our beautiful city.
“We cannot get around the harsh reality that the supply chain at the moment has been hit by a double whammy of Brexit and Covid which is affecting the logistics and security industries very hard.
“We understand in particular that the market for security staff has been hugely depleted as a result of staff finding jobs in other sectors. So, we have reshaped our plans to focus our festivities on attracting residents and visitors in a sustainable way.
“Given the exceptional circumstances we are in, my concern is to ensure our wonderful city can celebrate Christmas safely.
“This reshaped programme allows us to create a wonderful environment for families and people of all ages and an event that businesses can benefit from after such a difficult year.”
