Liverpool Christmas market stalls have become unaffordable for a growing number of independent traders after the cost of renting a chalet at St George’s Plateau nearly doubled under new operator Underbelly. For silversmith Alex Healy, the maths simply does not work.
Healy, 37, had sold jewellery at the Liverpool Christmas market every year since 2021. She was planning her return from maternity leave around the event. Last year she paid £6,780 including VAT and electricity for a six-week chalet. This year, under arrangements set by Underbelly, the base cost rose to just under £14,000 before additional charges for water, grey waste, chiller storage, and energy supply were added on top. She has decided not to go back.
‘I feel like Liverpool council have just treated us not even as a second thought really,’ she said.
The market, she told the BBC, had previously provided 80% of her Christmas income. Her business, Pare de Bijoux, may not survive without it.
Who Is Underbelly, and Why Do Liverpool Christmas Market Stalls Cost So Much More?
Underbelly is not an unknown quantity in festive markets. The company describes itself as a ‘world leading live entertainment company’ with 20 years of operation across London, Edinburgh, and Hong Kong. It has run Christmas in Leicester Square on behalf of the City of Westminster since 2016, and it manages the market square at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. These are large-scale, London-priced events.
That context matters. Liverpool City Council awarded Underbelly the tender to operate the St George’s Hall market after it had been run by a smaller, local company. The council says the new operator manages its own trader arrangements independently and that separate festive pop-up markets across the city will offer a ‘cost-effective way for traders to showcase and sell their products.’ Underbelly did not respond to requests to address the cost increases directly.
Ed Bartlam, co-founder of Underbelly, said the company was ‘looking forward to working with the local community to create a new seasonal highlight that complements Liverpool’s festive calendar.’ The company is also bringing an outdoor ice-skating experience to the St George’s Hall site. Whether that makes the event better for the city is a genuine question. Whether it makes it better for the traders who built it over a decade is a different one entirely.
A Tender Decision the Council May Already Be Reconsidering
The friction between Underbelly’s model and Liverpool’s independent traders may be moot within a few years. According to a decision published on the Open Council Network, Liverpool City Council has already begun a new competitive tender exercise for the St George’s Hall Christmas market operator covering November 2026 through November 2029. The current arrangement, in other words, is not settled.
That is cold comfort to Healy this Christmas. The market has drawn more than 500,000 visitors each year and delivers what the council calls a ‘significant economic boost to the city.’ The traders who created the community feel Healy describes, who were there before the skating rink and the London operator, had a reasonable expectation of continuity. They did not get it.
My read is that Liverpool’s council is discovering what happens when you hand a local institution to a company built for a different scale. Underbelly runs events where a £14,000 stall fee might be routine. In Liverpool, it prices out the silversmith who spent five years building a customer base on that plateau. The upcoming tender gives the council a chance to correct the balance. Traders will want to know whether cost access for independents will be written into the next contract, or left, once again, to the operator’s discretion.
