A FESTIVE market was scrapped after differing trader views could not be reconciled, a town manager has said.

Mold's Christmas Market was meant to take place in the high street on Wednesday and was due to run until about 8pm.

But Dave Hill, Mold town manager, told the Leader it had been cancelled - which he described as a shame.

He explained: "Different traders had different views which Flintshire Council was not able to reconcile despite their best efforts.

"it is a shame because this is an event that had been organised by a number of traders and they had put a lot of effort in."

One of the traders organising the Christmas market was Shane Mellor from Neston, who brings his business The Great British Bakehouse to Mold for the town's weekly market.

Mr Mellor, who has been coming to the town for about 11 years, said: "A group of traders got together and we wanted to put on an event to showcase the market to a slightly different audience.

"We canvassed opinion from a group of traders and the consensus was an evening market on a Wednesday would be more suitable for the current trader base to attend, because we're already here and we can just carry on trading into the evening.

"The majority of traders were willing to do that and then when we confirmed we were going to do the market a lot of traders decided that they wouldn't be able to support that after all.

"By this time we had already advertised the event via social media and it was getting a huge amount of traction.

"We were approached by other traders who don't come to Mold regularly to enquire about a pitch for that particular day.

"That escalated and we realised we could have a big successful event - but various operational and logistical issues proved difficult to organise and that coincided with the county council having market support staff off ill."

Mr Mellor said he found the cancellation 'very disappointing' but he is looking ahead to next year.

He added: "We know Christmas events are very popular and the traction just seemed to be phenomenal. It could have been a great event - it seemed too good to miss.

"But I understand some of the reasons the current trader base couldn't support it. It is different for every trader.

"We will certainly be in a better position next year from that we have learned this year.

"We'd almost certainly do the event on a different day, then we can make it a bigger and better event that we even planned this year.

"We have plenty of time now to utilise the county council and their resources, negotiate with Mold Town Council and work together.

"I have to say we did get a lot of support from Mold Town Council and I do believe Flintshire Council did try to resolve the - and without the staffing issues they had it may have gone ahead."

Flintshire Council has been approached for a comment.