Anthony Grice had applied for a stall at Liverpool’s Christmas markets every year for eight years.
This year they finally came back to him.
The quote was £11,840 for four weeks on a pitch measuring 4×2.5 metres.
The 46-year-old, who runs coffee shop Fika, had budgeted for around £4,000.
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The email arrived about six weeks ago and he says it triggered a meltdown.
“This year, I thought I was in, but they came back to me with the figures, and I was disgusted,” he told Creatorzine.
The bill, line by line
According to Anthony, the pitch itself accounts for £7,500.
On top of that sits £2,000 to hire the hut, £1,000 for power, £750 for a water supply, £350 to install a card machine, £180 for internet and £60 for water removal.
He also claims traders must use the market’s own card machines, with organisers taking 20% of everything that goes through them.
Payouts, he says, might not land until February or March.
“It was the bottom-tier pricing structure because I’d just need a hot chocolate churner, some water and a fuse,” he said.
“It’s totally inaccessible for an independent business like mine.”
He posted a video breaking down the costs. It has since been viewed nearly 200,000 times.
He’d already scoped out the competition
Anthony has run Fika for eight years and reckons he spotted a gap while wandering the market as a customer.
“I went to the markets last year and it was sh**e,” he said.
“I think all the hot chocolates were powdered and overpriced. I use proper melted chocolate infused with the milk. I’d probably charge £5 or £5.50, which I think is reasonable.”
His bigger worry was the maths. Four weeks of British weather, midweek footfall that can vanish, and a five-figure outlay to recoup before any of it counts as profit.
“Through the week, it could severely struggle,” he said.
“Adding insult to injury was that you have to use their machines and they’d take a percentage.”
Anthony claims the organisers’ email acknowledged feedback that the markets were expensive, then explained that this year’s event would be a “proper Winter Wonderland” with an ice rink.
“Make Liverpool’s markets scouse”
His argument goes beyond his own missed pitch. He wants the markets to look like the cities hosting them.
“Local people want to see local businesses,” he said.
“Make Liverpool’s Christmas markets scouse with scouse pies and make Manchester markets more Manchester.
It’s your own culture with a twist. People would love it, and all the markets wouldn’t be the same.”
He also thinks traders absorb blame that belongs further up the chain.
“Customers say that everything is overpriced and think it’s the traders ripping people off, but they’re covering the costs.
They’re passing on the cost to the customer, but it’s the traders who get the finger pointed at them.”
The comments under his video suggest that penny had already dropped for some.
“As soon as you said use their card machines, I knew they were wanting a cut on top of everything you would already be paying,” one wrote.
“Absolute greed; no way does any of that cost them what they are charging you, especially when divided amongst all the traders.”
Another said: “Would love to go to a Christmas Market run by local independents. There are so many brilliant independent vendors and shops in Liverpool, it would be the dream.”
What the council says
A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said the operators at St George’s Hall and Pier Head handle their own trader arrangements independently, and that Liverpool Markets will run festive pop-up markets across the city over Christmas.
Those pop-ups, the council said, are designed to support local and independent businesses and offer a cost-effective route for traders, with interested vendors encouraged to register and further details to follow.
Event organisers Underbelly Limited have been approached for comment.
Why It Matters
Anthony’s video did numbers precisely because the cost breakdown was itemised.
That is the shift worth watching for anyone running a small business with an audience attached.
A trader who posts the invoice reaches 200,000 people in a week, which is more scrutiny than a pricing structure usually attracts, and more reach than most of them could buy.
Independent traders have spent the past few seasons pushing back on the economics of Christmas markets across the UK, with similar complaints surfacing in Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
The difference now is that the receipts go public.
Anthony still has a hot chocolate recipe and no stall.
Whether he builds his own market, or whether someone else does it first, the £5.50 cup has an audience waiting for it.
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