Sweet stall trader told to leave town

Pamela Gittins left her pitch in the London Road precinct after her presence was severely criticised.

Bognor Regis Town Council members and members of the executive committee of the town's chamber of commerce separately attacked the appearance of Mrs Gittins's stall at the precinct's southern end.

They said it gave a shabby look to the town's main retail area at a time when 100m of investment was about to be pumped into it.

The Observer approached Mrs Gittins last Thursday afternoonto hear her side of the story.

She said she would leave soon after. She was absent the next day and last Saturday.

'I don't want to be here on sufferance,' she stated.

'If the councillors and chamber of commerce don't want me to be here, then I won't be.

'I shall pack up and go for good tonight.'

Emsworth resident Mrs Gittins arrived in Bognor after she ran a sweet shop for three-and-a-half years in Chichester's Buttermarket. But business there dropped after news was revealed of its redevelopment.

She was given street trading consent for the precinct by Arun District Council on June 22. She was allowed to trade between 9am and 4.30pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for six months.

Last week was her fourth week on the site. Her stall outside the Abbey bank branch consisted of three trestle tables, a range of old fashioned sweet jars, a pair of scales and a trailer for back-up supplies.

She admitted her stall was very different from the '˜old world' sweet trader previously there with an awning and traditional appearance.

'I know it does not look good but, quite honestly, I can't afford to do anything else,' she stated. 'Business is not that good here.'

She said that she bought a gazebo for her stall but it took her three-and-a-half hours to put it up in a trial.

'I just couldn't do that every time I came here,' she added.

Town councillors last week condemned Mrs Gittings's presence. The town council had objected to the street trading consent being granted because it feared a clash with shops which also sell sweets.

Cllr Greg Burt said: 'What's the point of the town looking nice if we let someone put some trestle tables in the precinct with some jam jars and a pair of scales. It looks like a disgrace.'

Cllr Paul Wells stated: 'It looks like something out of a car boot sale. It makes me wonder what Arun wants for the town.

'Here we are about to have millions of pounds spent on the town but when it comes down to the nitty gritty they get it wrong. The person concerned can't possibly improve the environment of the town.

'It's down to Arun to ensure that the people they allow to come to the town are given clear guidance about the standards that are acceptable to the regeneration of Bognor.'

Chamber of commerce chairman and president Nick Stuart-Nicolson said: 'The stall looked tacky and it was not fit for the area.

'It was not what was expected in view of the town's impending regeneration.

'We are trying to make Bognor fit for quality businesses and the stall was not one of those.'