Due to complaints about unfair competition, there was no longer room for the market stalls of the fish and cheese farmer in Vught. The municipality wanted to protect local shops against loss of turnover. But after much unrest and protest, the municipality is now backtracking on that decision. “Why are we allowed to stay now? I have no idea,” said a relieved fishmonger on Wednesday. The municipality responds: “It is only for one year.”
The local fish shop and cheese shop say they have higher costs and therefore feared they would have to stop. By banning market stalls, the municipality hoped to prevent vacancy in the center. But that led to indignant reactions from customers of the fish and cheese farmer, who visit the Market Field once a week.
This created a threatening situation for the municipality, a spokesperson said. “The public discussion about the new location policy was vigorous. Personal attacks were also made against those involved. Disagreements are part of an open society, but personal attacks or intimidation are not part of it.”
Confidence grew
There was supposed to be a meeting this week between the market traders and the municipality, but that did not happen. “We received a call from the municipality that the permit had been approved, and it was already in the mail,” says fishmonger Thomas Molenaar. “We have no idea why. The most important thing now: we will be there again next year.” The same email suddenly arrived at cheesemonger De Kaaskoning.
For Thomas, the permit came out of the blue. “I’m super happy. Great! I’ve already opened a bottle to celebrate,” says the fishmonger. “I had a hard time about it, but when all customers, retailers and local residents got behind us, confidence grew.”
The fishmonger has been in Vught every Saturday for almost ten years; the cheesemonger has been on Fridays for 25 years, in the same place. Molenaar does not understand why the municipality and local shops wanted to get rid of him and the cheesemonger. “I understand that you want to get rid of the competition, but we can easily coexist. It’s a shame that it happened this way, but in the end I’m happy with all the advertising.”
Municipality response
The municipality is working on a new policy for pitches, she said. “It states that it must be an addition to the existing range of shops in the centre. In this way we protect the vitality of the shopping area and prevent vacancies.”
The fish and cheese farmers submitted their request before the new policy was adopted. “These applications have therefore been assessed according to the old policy and granted for one year.” Next year there is a good chance that the market stalls will not be allowed to return due to competition with shops in the center.
