Record fair being 'forced' to leave Capital after 20 years

Published on Saturday 19 September 2009 11:09

THE organiser of a well-known George Street record fair claims he is being forced out of the area by council litter meanies.

The event has been running in the Capital for more than 20 years and is held around nine times every year, attracting record dealers from across the country.

It is currently held in the Assembly Rooms, but organiser Chris Pleasance said he may now have to relocate to smaller premises or stop the events entirely because of council interference.

His problems began two years ago, when he was banned from putting adverts on lampposts and fences along George Street.

Since then he has used posters on the windows of the Assembly Theatre to help bring in the crowds.

At the most recent event, however, Mr Pleasance was told by environmental wardens that these advertisements would also have to be taken down, or he would be fined more than 100.

Mr Pleasance, 48, of Stirlingshire, said he felt badly let down by the council, and warned that he was now considering stopping the fairs in the Capital.

"We haven't had any trouble with the council since last year, but now they have told us that the signs we have put up on the back windows of the Assembly Rooms have to be taken down," he said.

"I was told that if we did not remove them we would be fined 100 for each sign.

"It is just unbearable, as we already give the council about 7,000 a year for licences, and they are preventing us from publicising our event.

"This is a fair that provides a lot of business for local record dealers, as well as others from around the UK, and the council insists on every one having an Edinburgh trader's licence.

"I run these fairs all over the UK and in Europe, and nowhere else in the world have I had so much trouble as I have had in Edinburgh.

"It is hard to believe at a time when the Government is looking to support business that this is happening to us, and I am seriously thinking about just stopping bringing the fairs to Edinburgh.

"We have a contract with the Assembly Rooms to run the event until early next year, and after that I will have to decide what to do."

The fairs were originally held in the Roxburghe Hotel, but moved to the Assembly Theatre in 1998 and have been there ever since.

A council spokeswoman confirmed that environmental wardens had spoken to Mr Pleasance, as they said he had flyposted on a drainpipe outside the Assembly Rooms.

They advised him this was illegal and asked him to remove the posters as soon as possible.

Councillor Paul Edie, community safety leader, said: "Flyposting is both illegal and unsightly and there is strong public demand for the council to take action to reduce and prevent it.

"Each year a minimum of 250,000 per year is spent tackling flyposting and graffiti through the council's dedicated removal squad."