Fun of the fair under threat as high costs take a toll

THE Glasgow Fair, one of the city's oldest and most venerable events, could disappear within a year as rising prices and uncertainty over the site threaten its future.

The fair, which first took place in the 12th century, has been hit by the economic downturn, with this year's event cut from a month to three weeks, and fewer rides pitching up at the site on Glasgow Green.

James A Smith, who holds the lease for running the fair after taking it on from Glasgow City Council in 1999, said the event, which holds a Royal Charter dating to the 1600s, has contracted in size by 60 per cent over the past 20 years as ride owners decide it is too expensive to attend.

Smith, who was born at Fleshers' Haugh, the site of the first fair held on Glasgow Green in 1189, has been involved with the event all his life. His family's association goes back to the 1940s, with his father and grandfather running shows at the fair, which became tied to the city's summer holiday, known as Glasgow Fair Fortnight, in the 1800s.

He blamed the council's decision to charge the event organisers 297 a day for use of the park - regardless of how much space they took up - for discouraging business. "As the number of rides has fallen away, it's meant that those remaining have to shoulder more of the rent. This has a knock-on effect in that it discourages other ride owners to come to the fair," Smith said. "Yet the rent is the same if we take a small part of it as it would if we took the whole of it."

He said that a further six ride owners had chosen not to return this year, reducing the number of large rides to just four, and added that it had been "touch and go" whether the fair would go ahead this year. Smith said he was hoping to reach an agreement with the council so that rides and stalls attending the fair are charged in relation to their size.

He added that the fair has also been affected by not having a fixed location since the park's refurbishment was completed in 2000, resulting in it being moved around. Following a two-year stint at a new spot, said to have lacked parking provision and had poor underfoot conditions, the fair is now based at a site close to the People's Palace. "The location is probably the best we'll ever get, and it is a way of life, but it is getting difficult to sustain," Smith said.

"It is hard to get the message out. I spent 4,000 on advertising the fair last year, and while we got some extra people coming in, it wasn't 4,000 worth of extra trade.

"It takes time to get the message out, so if you shorten the amount of time you are here, by the time people come looking for the fair, it's gone."

The weather has also conspired against the fair. Last year's event proved to be a wash-out when it rained for 18 days of the fair's four weeks.

This year's event has been curtailed from a month to three weeks to make way for the Glasgow Show, due to take place in the last weekend of July. Alex James Colquhoun, vice-chairman of the Showmen's Guild, the governing body for all Funfairs and Fairground Rides operated by members in Scotland, acknowledged that the fair was smaller and less impressive event than it once was. He said: "The council do recognise that there is a Royal Charter on the fair and that they do have a duty to carry that charter on the best they can and try to keep it running.

"The Glasgow Fair was the biggest in Scotland, one of the biggest fairs in Britain and maybe even in Europe. At its peak during the 1980s it had 20 rides, four or five speedways and waltzers. I went up to it yesterday and to see the size of it now, it's saddening because it's part of Glasgow's history. I was speaking to some of the ride owners up there whose parents and even grandparents attended the fair, but they more or less said that in recent years they had come along because they felt it was something that they had to do, that they had a tradition to uphold, but that they just couldn't do it. Lots and lots of people have fond memories of it and to see what it's come to, it's just sad."

Colquhoun said the new site was hastening the decline. "It's too much off the beaten track. They're more or less hidden behind the People's Palace and kept as far away from the main street and park as it possibly can. It's just too far from the people."

Smith said that despite the difficulties, he felt he had a responsibility to keep the fair going: "This fair is for the people of Glasgow.

"As long as I can remember, we have been coming here. It's gone on for so many years and we're determined to keep it going, even if it's just held for one week. But the expenses are killing it."

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said that the 297 charge was a flat fee charged to all fairs using the park: "The council has an approved and audited charging policy in place covering fairgrounds in our parks.

"We have an obligation, on behalf of the people of Glasgow to recoup money from commercial organisations wishing to use our land and facilities."