The fruit and vegetable stall, a long term fixture at the Tuesday market, may be forced to close due to building
works taking place underneath and within Falmer House.
“In the case of the fruit and vegetable stall, by far one of the most popular sections of the market, the university has said that they are not happy to allow it to move to Library Square,” explains Sol Schonfield, Communications Officer for the University’s Student Union.
The building work on Falmer House is described as major maintenance work, involving the replacing of windows, re-pointing of brickwork, and repairing of the roof.
The new windows being installed are self-cleaning and double glazed, blocking heat from escaping Falmer House in efforts to reduce energy costs and limit the building’s ecological footprint.
While the fruit and vegetable stall understands the need to move from their usual locale as the ongoing construction has deemed the area unsafe, the location in which they were asked to relocate is the concern.
“The university offered the vendors an alternative of Lancaster House, but this is not commercially viable for the fruit and vegetable stall, as more people walk through the areas of Falmer House and Fulton Court,” explained Sol Schonfield, the Students’ Union Communications Officer.
With the temperature dropping each day as winter arrives, students will also be less keen to walk further distances to the stand’s new location.
The university has been in continued communication with the fruit and vegetable market.
“We have explored a number of alternative locations for the market, and offered a space outside Lancaster
House, which the market trader has declined,” says the University of Sussex.
“The number of alternative locations is limited, because the market needs access for a large delivery lorry and arrangements must be made for the clearance of rubbish.”
“I have stopped at the stand each Tuesday every year I’ve been here at Sussex, and it would be sad to see the stand go,” confesses Sam Lipscomb, a postgraduate history student who also attended Sussex as an undergraduate.
Biz Bliss, an Operations Officer for the Students’ Union, wrote in an email to the university: “I’m concerned that if this rule is applied while Falmer House is temporarily unavailable to house the market, that the reputation that the market and its traders have built up, together with the sense of community that the market generates,could disappear, and staff and students would no longer be able to rely on the market for their weekly shop.”
The negotiations into a new location continue.
