Memorandum by Kingston upon Hull City
Council (TF 49)
RE: HULL
FAIR
With regard to Hull Fair and Hull City Council's
involvement with the event I am pleased to enclose a short resumé
giving evidence of the success of Hull Fair and our relationship
with the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain.
Hull Fair, which we in Hull at least claim is
Europe's largest travelling fun fair, has been established in
the city by Royal Charter for over 700 years. The fair's current
home is the Walton Street Fairground, a 14 acre complex in the
west of the city which is surrounded to the south by parkland
and to the west and north by housing. The fair is a traditional
aspect of the city's year and such phrases as "Hull Fair
weather" and "Hull Fair time" are part of local
vocabulary. The event runs for eight days in early October and
is attended by an estimated one million people and over 300 tenants.
From the Hull City Council's point of view the
event does cause some problems in the local community but a high
profile customer care programme and the inclusion and implementation
of the visitor management module in our Tourism Development Strategy
means that complaints are kept to a minimum and in general the
event is accepted by everyone.
The fair is managed by the City Council who
are responsible for the upkeep of the site and the staffing of
the event. Over the past 10 years the authority has forged a strong
partnership with the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain to move
the event forward from a community fair to a major national tourist
attraction. The success of this can be measured by the fact that
Hull Fair is the busiest week of the year as far as the Humber
Bridge is concerned. Extensive Park and Ride, residents parking
and other management measures have been introduced by the authority
to ensure we can handle these increased visitors.
The authority meets every year with the Showmen's
Guild of Great Britain to discuss visitor management, safety and
development issues as well as to discuss rents. These meetings
used to be of a formal nature through the Hull Fair Sub-Committee
but with the introduction of "Agenda for Change" in
the City Council this contact is now between the Chair and Deputy
of the Showmen's Guild (Yorkshire Section) and the Executive Member
for Quality of Life and his Senior Officer for the City Council.
Day to day issues are discussed in this forum but the authority
is always pleased to accept deputations from the Guild and the
Executive Member in turn keeps the authority's Cabinet informed
of any major changes or developments.
The fairground is let to the showmen on a system
based on family rights. The tenants are charged for a family site
at the basic rate but if they wish to sublet this site they are
charged double and if they wish to part with this site on a permanent
basis they negotiate separately with the incoming tenant but will
be charged treble rent for the first year. As new sites have been
developed and old ones have been returned to the authority these
have been made "floating" sites which are used to attract
top quality new attractions to the event. Double rent is charged
for these sites which attract fairground attractions from around
Europe giving the event an innovative and pioneering feel.
There is continual dialogue between the Guild
and the City Council on a whole host of issues including safety,
facility management, discipline of tenants, etc. Safety is the
prime concern of the Showmen's Guild and the City Council and
our record is extremely good. With one million visitors we can
report no major injuries in 1998 and only a broken wrist and broken
leg (both sustained off rides) in 1999. A resident team of safety
staff and a close liaison with the Health and Safety Executive
also assist this situation. Much of this success is down to the
close working relationship between the Showmen's Guild and the
City Council. This close working relationship between the Guild
and the authority means that as far as rents are concerned the
authority decides how much it needs to raise and then gives the
Guild two or three alternatives with regard to increases so they
can help identify market trends and from which of our areas of
the operation the required increase in income can be obtained.
In addition to rental charges on the fairground itself the authority
also charges for caravan parking, lorry parking, the dealers who
trade with the showmen and the hawkers and stallholders who trade
in Walton Street. By using this method of setting the rents the
Guild are able to have some involvement in the discussions whereas
the authority at the end of the day get the increase they require.
There is a strong working relationship between
the authority and the Guild with regard to all aspects of Hull
Fair and the success of the event in recent years can be contributed
in no small part to this relationship. There have been disputes
in the past but these have usually been solved, although if action
has had to be taken against an individual showman on a safety
issue, etc the authority has, in the interests of its customers,
the public of the city, taken the necessary action and the Guild
has understood this stance.
Head of Image and Promotion
February 2000
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