Chiswick Flower Market director refutes Cllr Biddolph’s comments about the market

Image above: Chiswick Flower Market; photograph Anna Kunst

The Flower market does not leave litter and does bring customers to Chiswick businesses

LB Hounslow is set to decide this week whether Chiswick will have a new monthly street food market on the fourth Sunday of every month in Old Market Place on Chiswick High Rd.

You can read the details of the proposal, put forward by Chiswick resident, food entrepreneur and journalist Richard Johnson, which will be decided by the Licensing Panel on Tuesday 7 March, here:

READ ALSO: LB Hounslow to decide on Sunday street food market for Chiswick High Rd

The application for the new market is being opposed by Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillor Joanna Biddolph. At the Hounslow Council Borough Meeting last week she also pointedly called for market licence fees to be increased.

Chiswick Flower Market director Karen Liebreich has put out a statement disassociating the flower market from Cllr Biddolph’s submission to the Licensing Panel over Richard Johnson’s application.

The Flower Market is neutral with regard to the food market, not taking a position either way on whether it should go ahead, but she says:

“Reading through Cllr Biddolph’s submission of 13 February 2023 regarding the Food Street licence, we note several inaccuracies”.

Cllr Biddolph makes various statements, which are publicly available to read on the Council website, which she says are not true, among them that the markets cause litter and have not brought trade to the existing bricks and mortar businesses in Chiswick.

Statement from the Chiswick Flower Market director Karen Liebreich

Here is her statement:

‘During the submission for the Cheese Market licence application panel on 21 January 2021, Cllr Biddolph made many comments about the Flower Market that we felt were inaccurate, to the point where we felt obliged to write to the chair of the Licensing Committee to correct some of her statements.

‘Reading through Cllr Biddolph’s submission of 13 February 2023 regarding the Food Street licence, we also note several inaccuracies. We emphasise that the Flower Market is neutral with regard to the food market, and these comments are not intended as support or objection to that application, merely as clarification about points regarding the Flower Market used by Cllr Biddolph in her objection to the Food Market.

‘We believe Cllr Biddolph has never once visited the Flower Market, and – in a letter to us of 10 October 2022 said she ‘would not be visiting the flower market soon’.  It is unfortunate that her information is so clearly inaccurate. We do not know if Cllr Biddolph has ever visited the Antiques or Cheese market either.

‘Cllr Biddolph writes in Appendix B:

1. “The existing markets cause litter:” The Flower Market team believes that we often leave the market area cleaner after our market than we find it on Sunday mornings. We often clear Saturday night debris before our market starts, and leave the pitches clean and tidy. We have had no complaints against us during our two and a half years of operation.

2. “Existing markets have had publicity beyond Chiswick but have not brought in trade to bricks and mortar businesses”: This is not borne out by the facts. In a survey carried out by the Flower Market 47 local businesses said their takings are increased on Market Sundays. Many businesses (including M&S!) state that they have to take on additional staff. Everyone can find anecdotes to support their case – it would be interesting to see the credit card data collected by many councils to clarify the facts.

3. “Numbers attending markets have been grossly exaggerated by other market organisers.”  The TfL camera cited counts pedestrians on a section of footpath beside Chiswick High Road, not in the Market.

Even so, the counts of the number of people using this section of footpath demonstrates on average, there are more people passing through this location on market days than on non-market days, However, this data is not the footfall of people visiting the markets in Old Market Place.  Chiswick Flower Market stands by our position that over 3,000 people regularly visit each market based upon periodic surveys when our marshals count visitors in Old Market Place using ‘clickers’.

4. People come to watch “performers on stilts, choirs from local schools, workshops” but that despite these “additional activities… footfall is decidedly disappointing and does not justify the loss of business compared with non-market days.” This is not borne out by the facts.

5. “Traders tell us that regular customers do not come to the centre of Chiswick on market Sundays as they do not enjoy the markets and cannot park.” They tell us that some regulars now come on Saturdays, meaning that both weekend days are now busy.

6. Cllr Biddolph complains about “traders who take Chiswick money spent in Chiswick away from Chiswick.” The Flower Market has a good mixture of local and specialist businesses and attracts visitors from all over West London and further. To claim that Chiswick money is taken out of Chiswick betrays a poor understanding of the way retail works.

7. Cllr Biddolph constantly requests that traders’ vans park in St Mary’s school car park, but has not considered whether residents in Dukes Road wish for a stream of vans accessing their residential road at 7am on a Sunday morning.

8. “Markets do not bring customers to local cafes/restaurants and we now have absolute proof of this.” This is not borne out by many studies of markets’ effects.

The data that Cllr Biddolph cites from the nearest cafe/restaurant in Appendix B1 appears to have a basic error in arithmetic.

This email provides the total number of covers in their cafe/restaurant for 47 Sundays made up from 1,907 covers for 11 Flower Market  days, 1,749 covers for 11 Antique Market  days, 1,716 covers for 11 Cheese Market days and 2,015 covers for 14 Sundays with no markets.

The email then provides the average number of covers for each type of market and Sundays without a market. This should be done by dividing the number of covers by the number of days.  The calculation of the average number of covers is correct for the days with markets.  The average number of covers for Sundays with no markets should be 2,015 / 14 = 143.93, not 183.18 as stated in the email.

An average figure of 143.93 for days with no markets means that the average number of covers on Sundays with markets is higher than Sundays without markets.

9. The councillor notes the presence of the Duck Pond market at Chiswick House on the first Sunday of the month, not realising that this market has until now run on Saturdays. It is only changing to the first Sunday from March 2023, precisely in order to benefit from the higher footfall attracted into the area by the Flower Market.

‘A co-operative marketing initiative between Chiswick House and Chiswick School’s car boot sale, along with the Duck Pond has just been established. Local community organisations wish to participate in the success of the Flower Market, not denigrate it.

‘As noted above, we are neutral about the Food Market, and leave the licensing panel to make its own decisions based on the evidence and policy. We merely wish to ensure that the evidence presented is accurate.’

Image above: Chiswick Flower Market; photograph Anna Kunst

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar

See also: LB Hounslow to decide on Sunday street food market for Chiswick High Rd

See also: Rupa Huq reinstated as a Labour MP after racism row

See all the latest stories: Chiswick Calendar News & Features

Support The Chiswick Calendar

The Chiswick Calendar CIC is a community resource. Please support us by buying us the equivalent of a monthly cup of coffee (or more, if you insist). Click here to support us.

We publish a weekly newsletter and update the website with local news and information daily. We are editorially independent.

To subscribe to the weekly newsletter, go here.