15/07/2021
It is with extreme and bitter disappointment that Sketts will not be organising the Royal Leamington Spa Autumn and Yuletide events this year. These events were born from an idea some 27 years ago from Sketts to the Christmas Lights committee, where tens of thousands of pounds were raised to maintain and renew the lights for several years. At this time, Christmas themed markets in the UK was ground-breaking with this event becoming a case model for many across the country. It was once this event was extended to autumn events and became extremely successful that Warwick District Council decided the event should be tendered with monies going directly to the authority and the contribution to the lights would be determined by them. With much hard work and perseverance, Sketts were able to continue under a tender system and continued to build and improve the events year on year. We are also extremely proud of how we managed the events through the awful pandemic year of 2020, implementing the extremely restrictive and costly requirements by working with the council and the BID. This enabled continuity of the event and for our clients to achieve some of the lost income they endured.
Unfortunately, we now feel the unjust and fickle exercise of tenders is time consuming, stressful and an expensive exercise. With local authorities within our industry, which do not take the ripple effect or more important factors into consideration, is something we are unlikely to participate in again. In the unlikely event that other private market operators follow suit this may help revert to where viability, loyalty and established relationships can flourish. We understand and are concerned that this new broom has also resulted in local businesses that have been offering excellent products and attending this event all this time, have been tossed aside leaving a huge void in their own business without explanation. We hope the new contractors will at least maintain its success moving forward and taking on this “well-oiled machine”. As for Sketts, we are currently re-evaluating the direction of the company where there is more reliability, loyalty, reward, and transparency.
Team Sketts 💚
