Fair is not traditional (From The Oxford Times)

Fair is not traditional

7:40am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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Sir – I am slightly puzzled why Oxford City Council allows its main streets to be taken over for several days each year by a fair, causing significant disruption and inconvenience to pedestrians and to traffic alike. Whenever I ask anyone for the reasons why this is allowed, I am told that it is “traditional” and that a fair has been held in central Oxford for centuries.

However, I see nothing traditional in this event at all. If you manage by some stroke of luck to win a prize on one of the stalls, the prizes on offer are just cheap and tawdry; the stalls are just a form of legalised banditry and are simply licences to print money for the stallholders.

I do not believe anyone can reasonably claim that this fair enhances Oxford in any way.

Richard Bowen, Oxford