The October Fair has arrived with much criticism from traders and towns people alike as disruption caused by the fair hits the businesses, pavements and roads of Ledbury.

Ledbury appears as a ghost town with a marked absence of cars as people stay away from Ledbury presumably because they won't find a parking space and to avoid the disruption of the town.

No parking in Ledbury for three days. With parking places lost in Bye Street car park, the High Street and much of the Homend. St Katherine's car park is open, but with limited access to Bye Street many people are staying away.

Heavy lorries parked up both damage and restrict the use of pavements. One trader asked why there was no traffic control operating in the Homend. 

Wyatts in the Homend closed today, because of the fair.

Cameron and Swan lose out on trading - because of the fair.

A woman told me that earlier in the day an elderly lady had had trouble crossing the road here as access had been blocked. Members of the public had come to her assistance, I was told.

Bye Street closed where it meets the Homend. Some traders wonder at the hypocrisy that allows the Fair to park heavy vehicles on the pavements, when driving and parking on the pavement would usually be considered as an offence.

Many traders are fearful of critising the fair as they do not want to be seen as the party poopers of Ledbury. However, everyone I spoke to, both traders and towns folk asked this question: Why can't the fair be moved to either the Recreation Ground or the playing fields on the Ross Road to minimise this damage and inconvenience to the town?

The Top Cross is empty and a van attempts to get down Bye Street ignoring the barriers.

Bye Street is closed to vehicles coming from the Homend, while signs from Bridge Street tell motorists that the road ahead is closed. Few vehicles are making it to and parking in St Katherine's car park. This pavement outside Abbey Bakery is completely blocked. How are people in mobility vehicles expected to use these pavements from Sunday through to Wednesday morning?

Try getting through that gap! The only way for a pedestrian to access Bye Street is by walking on the road, but remember, cars are still moving both ways up and down Bye Street. Is this a safety issue for our nanny state?

A young mum is forced to cross the road as the pavement is blocked. Meanwhile, while the streets of Ledbury are so strangled is there an issue for our emergency services getting quick and clear access to all areas.

Bye Street car park, which is usually full every week day, has no room for any would-be shoppers.

The bottom line is this, as someone who described himself a working class bloke told me today: The fair is outmoded in this day and age.

Every person I have spoken to today has been anti the fair in one way or another. Traders have talked about losing business and towns folk have talked about health and safety and environmental issues.

However, most people do not want to see an end to the fair - they just want it removed from the town centre. As suggested earlier in this article why can't the fair be set up, for example, on the recreation ground or at the rugby club.

If you try speaking to the police or Town Council about the fair they have a couple of tactics. The police will tell you to talk to the Council. The council will tell you to talk to the fair boss, Mr Rogers, or will encourage him to pay you a visit.

Or else they bring up the medieval 'Charter' that supposedly allows the fair to operate. In those far off days fairs were basically yearly markets with lots of drinking on the streets, prostitutes aplenty, live music and street theatre, and in the world of Thomas Hardy, a place where you could put your wife up for sale. I'd imagine that the fair would have been a day time event too - a bit of a public holiday in fact. Sounds alright, doesn't it?

What has that got to do with the Fun Fair that is here now - an export from America's Coney Island complex from the turn of the Twentieth Century. Fast food, recorded music and rides that promise hyperstimulation.

The kids love it and this author remembers loving it too - back in the days of three TV channels, no video or DVDs, no computers and Internet, no computer games in the home, no mobile phones and very few clubs to attend.

Is our working class man correct in saying that the fair is now old fashioned and has had it's day. Should it stay where it is in the middle of town, should it be removed to another area or done away with completely. Cast your vote in our opinion poll or have your say in the comment boxes below.