Victoria Centre Market traders feel they are in a "war of attrition" with Nottingham City Council as a timetable to close the site appears to have been scrapped. Business owners at the historic market have faced uncertainty for years over plans by Nottingham City Council, the market owner, to close the venue.
Nick Clark, who runs Cobblers and Keys on the front of the market, said: "It feels like a war of attrition - 'let's wear these beggars down until they leave of their own accord'. But we're quite clever businesspeople and whatever they throw at our feet, we're going to adapt and keep going." Mr Easom agreed that the traders were in a stand-off with the city council, saying: "If they want to close it, then they have got to pay for that. They can't have it all their own way. Everything is pointing towards 'don't shut the market', but they still want to shut it."
After announcing its new closure plans last December, the city council said negotiations with Global Mutual had been "both complex and protracted" and that talks would continue over the termination of the lease agreement, which the council says would have cost it £39 million over the next 50 years. News that the latest timetable to close the market has been scrapped was confirmed in a letter sent to traders on July 20.