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25 years since historic cattle market closed
03/06/2023
Banbury Cattle Market had a history dating back 1,000 years and was mentioned in the Domesday Book
Sunday June 4 marks the 25th anniversary of the closure of Banbury Cattle Market. Once the home to one of the biggest cattle markets in Europe, the land in Grimsbury is now occupied by Dashwood Banbury Academy, the Banbury Madni Masjid (Mosque) and a number of houses and flats.
The demise of the cattle market could have been very different were it not for a missed planning opportunity, on top of the effects which the BSE crisis had on the livestock industry.
From the early 1990s the cattle market’s owners, Midland Marts, had been looking to move to a new site at Huscote Farm by the M40. Planning permission was granted, but Midland Marts were also in discussion with the owners of their existing site in Grimsbury with a view to staying there.
Whilst this was happening the government and planning policy changed and South Northamptonshire District Council objected to the Huscote Farm planning decision. A number of MPs were successful in a call for the then Environment Secretary, John Prescott, to order an inquiry to decide whether green belt regulations and out-of-town development codes may have been breached.
As no work on the new site had begun permission was put on hold. When the negotiations with the current site owners fell through there was no option for the Cattle Market but to close.
Midland Marts chairman, Jim Watson, spoke to Farmers Weekly at the time. He said: “It is financially impossible to continue in our current situation. We had hoped to move to our new site at Huscote Farm, but planning approval has been called in by the Secretary of State for the Environment and it could take at least two years to get a decision.
“At the same time we are being beaten by the huge rent, rate, water and effluent overheads that go with the Banbury site as well as the fall in commission income due to the regional decline in cattle numbers and livestock prices. We have been put in a corner in which we can do nothing else because it is financially impossible to continue by renewing the lease.”
At the time BSE, also known as Mad Cow Disease, had devastated much of the livestock industry, which badly affected the Cattle Market.
The final day of trading In Grimsbury was Thursday June 4, 1998. Banbury Cattle Market had been based there since 1926.
Banbury Cattle Market had a history dating back 1,000 years and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. It used tiered rings to sell cattle with a rapid-fire auctioneering style.
One hundred people lost their jobs when the market closed.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam