DECADES of families’ hard work will be wiped out with the closure of a long-standing market.

For the past 60 years the family of Bracknell-born greengrocer, Andy Dudman, has been trading in the town, but Andy has been told by the council the market would be ending on April 29.

The 56-year-old, from Birch Hill, has been fighting tooth and nail to find a resolution which would allow him and other traders to carry on.

Dad-of-two Andy said: “We’re in limbo. As such we got given five weeks’ notice that the market was ending and now we only have two weeks left.

“The reason why we didn’t go to the press was because we were in negotiations with the council trying to sort this out.

“We thought, ‘let’s not go down the road of slagging each other off and have a war of words, let’s try and work something out,’ but we are getting strung along.

“Then suddenly they don’t want to answer the phone, do anything or respond to us in any way whatsoever.”

The outdoor Bracknell Market is run under contract with the council by Cotswold Markets, but Andy said he was told the contractors have pulled out.

“The council seems to hide behind the fact Cotswolds have pulled out,” said Andy, “but we’ve given them other options to take it on, but they don’t want to know about that.”

Andy said they have floated options to the council, but every suggestion he makes there is a barrier or a ‘lame’ excuse made.

He added: “We said we would take the market over with no extra cost to the council and run it but they put a couple of barriers in front of that.

“Then we said we’d become street trading and get a street traders’ licence and they put a couple of barriers in front of that.”

“It seems like there is a shut down in communication. And it’s not as if we are having a go at anybody, we are just trying to sort this out and put suggestions forward.

“And every time we put a suggestion forward they would come up with another lame excuse as to why we couldn’t.”

A council spokesman said: “The council has looked at alternative ways of keeping the market open over the past few months but due to a limited number of stallholders and limited trade it is currently not possible. The council cannot run the market without a trusted operator as it needs to ensure all financial, legal and other day-to-day operations are carried out correctly.”

Given the market’s dwindling trade it is unlikely another market operator would come forward to run Bracknell Market in its current form.