Street traders, selling hats and other clothing, food and drink, incense, flowers and trinkets on trollies or other temporary and portable stalls, or simply out of bags, have become a familiar sight in big city centres. They might not be as outright criminal as shoplifting, but they raise community safety concerns; they may be an eyesore and they get in the way – and they compete with legitimate retailers who are paying rent.
Hence a report to Birmingham City Council’s cabinet on July 22 by Sajeela Naseer, Director of Regulation and Enforcement. She pointed out ‘an increase in illegal street trading, peddling, unauthorised distribution of materials’, subscription collectors (including for charity), and obstruction on roads in Birmingham city centre, ‘most notably New Street, High Street, Corporation Street, Edgbaston Street’, which she described as ‘illegal, excessive, or unauthorised activity’. The report pointed out that such traders may ‘act as a focal point for anti-social behaviour’ (such as when a consumer has realised they have been duped, and tries to get their money back, only for the trader to threaten violence); and leave litter. In one case, ‘a gazebo was set up outside a building’s emergency escape exit’. Councillors were told that pedlars treat authority with contempt. Abuse and threats by pedlars if challenged has been filmed and placed online; the report told councillors that it makes ‘a negative image for the city centre that may discourage others from visiting the city’. A consultation on the proposed PSPO (as required by law) prompted public remarks not wholly against the pedlars, yet included remarks that they made the city like an ‘obstacle course’ and contributed to ‘chaos’.
Fakes
While retailers and shoppers alike have complained of the nuisance, the report noted that the City Centre Business Improvement District (BID) has suggested such traders are selling counterfeit perfumes and Apple products openly from carrier bags. While such illegal street traders have been prosecuted by the council, it admits that a prosecution can take ‘many months’ and the fines are not deterring the traders. Even if Trading Standards carry out an operation against the sale of fake goods, a trader simply moves on. The council has a policy on street trading, including that no street trading unit should be within 30 metres of another. While the making of a PSPO and putting up signage will cost £3000, the council (which in 2023 in effect declared itself bankrupt, leading to budget cuts and commissioners coming in from central government) says that will be funded ‘as a community safety project through proceeds of crime funding’. The order will come into force on the mainly pedestrianised streets between the Town Hall, and the Bull Ring, north of New Street station and the Grand Central shopping mall.
For details of Birmingham’s PSPOs, visit the city council website.
The cabinet also discussed a separate PSPO against noise in the city centre; more on this link.
Photo by Mark Rowe: Central BID business support officer on patrol, New Street, weekday morning, April 2025.
