What is it About
The normal purpose of this web site is to give the cyber-traveller or ex-pat a personal view of my home town. I don't care much for politics or politicians but as a native Penistonian I feel anger like the next man when we are being trampled on. Every Thursday, Penistone had a retail and a livestock market, side-by-side. The livestock market has now been shut down although the retail market thrives to this day.
For something like six centuries Penistone has had a livestock market and became an official 'market town' with a Royal Charter granted in 1699 (see the history page). Because of competition with Barnsley (who always had more power) in the old days, Penistone market changed from Tuesday to Thursday.
Now Barnsley Council has closed it down to make way for a 'food' superstore. After they refused the funding needed to retain the livestock market, so-called 'Heritage' money was found for an expensive skateboard park on the edge of the Showground. (I think it was about £120,000). What does it mean when a skate park is more 'heritage' than our historic market. Not that the skate park wasn't needed, it was just the funding I would quibble about.
What the Papers Said
The local paper, Barnsley Chronicle, and the regional paper, Yorkshire Post, both reported that Barnsley Council decided, in secret, - to force the market's closure to make room for a supermarket on the site, as it claimed the market was too expensive to run. They also said that the council reneged on an agreement to keep it open for up to six months longer - which might have given the auctioneers time for relocation. All this at a time when the farming world was just starting to recover from the two major setbacks of BSE and Foot & Mouth disease.
A figure of about £50,000 would have been enough to help sort out the problem but then the newspapers discovered that the council had decided to donate £3,000,000 from public funds to a football team. This figure did not appear anywhere in the annual accounts leaflet sent out with local tax demands. So much for 'open government'!
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
It reads - "A Sad Day as Market Shuts - Council Slammed for Lack of Help." (Saturday 20th Sept. 03). Click on the scan for the full view. This Huddersfield paper has some readership in Penistone and the market featured strongly in readers' letters. Here's an extract:
"An auctioneer today says that a livestock market's closure was one of the saddest days of his life. Mr Dixon, of Holmfirth auctioneers William Sykes & Son, said that the last day had been an emotional one. He accused Barnsley council of letting everybody down - "I asked them for help - but there was not a chance of it. The market is now dead in the water. What they have done is criminal. They've poured so much money into Barnsley football club that they're skint."
(Newspaper article reproduced by kind permission of Huddersfield Daily Examiner).
TV Coverage
'Look North' and 'Calendar' (local tv programmes) also sent their reporters to cover this topic and made the same comparison of public funds saved - versus public funds donated. Passers-by who were interviewed in the street unanimously showed their disgust and not even one person said that the demise of our market was a price worth paying. The general consensus was that Barnsley council were not 'playing the game' and nobody on the council could be found to put their side of the argument.
Fuming Anger
Everywhere in the Penistone area, Barnsley's dirty deed was the seething hot topic. In a Penistone pub, there was even talk of council tax rebellion. Another strong view was that by destroying a key feature of the town and replacing it with a chain supermarket in 'a plastic building' (as one local called it), our identity as a town was being eroded. We were to become another of those clone towns beloved of the developers.
Since I wrote the above in 2003, there started a long dispute between our local council and the town hall's paramount organ trust. Given how long it lasted and its damaging effect on Market Day business, there were some who thought that they could see a bigger picture here. The hand of Barnsley council appeared to working by proxy, to destroy Market Day trade.
