Brexit: Belfast bucks trend of UK Christmas markets

Christmas market stall holders from the European Union have found it easier to operate in Belfast than other parts of the UK because of Brexit rules.

That is according to the boss of the firm that runs the Belfast market and three similar events across the UK.

But Allan Hartwell added that Brexit rules made it harder for traders from Great Britain to operate in Belfast.

He said bureaucracy deterred a small number of stall holders from England from travelling to Belfast this year.

Mr Hartwell is the co-founder and managing director of Market Place Europe, which organises Christmas markets in Belfast, Glasgow, Cheltenham and Harrogate.

He spoke to BBC News about the effects of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic on traditional continental Christmas markets across the UK.

He said that because of Brexit rules, some EU-based traders "are now finding it very difficult to trade on our markets in England".

However, the Belfast market appears to be bucking the UK trend because of the special post-Brexit trading arrangements that apply in Northern Ireland but not in Great Britain.

"It's been very easy for European traders to come into Northern Ireland and it's been straightforward," Mr Hartwell said.

"The bureaucracy comes in when you're trying to get English traders and Scottish traders coming into Northern Ireland - that's where we've run into the problems.

"It's been difficult along the way to overcome them, I'm not certain that the British government has been very helpful in that respect.

"I think it's set up for big business; I don't think it's set up for the small, individual, independent retailers to move so freely around and there has been that difficulty."

Mr Hartwell said British traders faced challenges with the movement of animal products, including meat, and complained about the "masses of paperwork" involved.

"We had a number of traders [who] cancelled and stayed on other markets in England, rather than coming into Belfast.

"We had about four or five traders, but it depends on the amount of effort they wanted to put into it - as I say, it's a difficult process."

However, Mr Hartwell praised the efforts of the Trader Support Service, which has been set up by the government to guide businesses through Northern Ireland Protocol rules.

"One of our traders was prevented at Liverpool from boarding a ferry because they didn't have a particular EORI [Economic Operators Registration and Identification] number for the vehicle itself," he said.

"Trader Support Service intervened, spoke directly to the port authority and they managed to issue a number and that was quite late at night, so for them to do that was very good and very helpful."

Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, some goods are now subject to inspections at Northern Ireland ports when they are imported from Great Britain.

Critics of the arrangement complain the protocol has created a new economic border in the Irish Sea which is damaging trade within the UK's internal borders.

It has created new opportunities for some businesses and difficulties for others.

Markus Kochem from Germany sells the spiced wine glühwein at UK Christmas markets but this year he decided to drop out of markets in Scotland and concentrate only on Belfast.

When asked why he had made the decision, he blamed Brexit rules, paperwork requirements and transport issues.

"The balance between worth [it] or not worth, we decided just [to be] in Belfast," he said, explaining it was "easier to get to the people".

Mr Kochem is a regular trader at UK markets and has been coming to Belfast for 15 years.

He said he usually travels to Northern Ireland via Scotland, but this year he by-passed Great Britain altogether and took a ferry from France to Dublin instead.

The trader said he was pleased to be back in Belfast but added he was "losing money" due to Covid restrictions and the fact that fewer people were paying by cash.

"Altogether, it's a quite hard time for all traders." he said.

Mr Hartwell said Brexit and Covid rules it had made it more complicated than ever to organise Christmas markets this year.

But he added that now the stalls were up and running, business was brisk and he was hopeful of a "record" number of visitors in Belfast.

"We've had nearly 40,000 people through these gates in the first two days which is phenomenal."