There are few starker examples of big business dumping on the little guy, and girl, than moving market traders off a pitch they have had for years - with nowhere to go.

NewRiver, owner of The Moor, ordered stalls off its property three days a week – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - in a move which has cut income in half for some - during a cost of living crisis. It might have banished them altogether but a lease agreement prevents it.

And why? To ‘enhance’ the area. Disgracefully, the firm did not offer traders an alternative and it was left to Sheffield City Council to accommodate them as best they could at Moorfoot.

It’s a short walk from their usual pitch outside Atkinsons, Poundland and Sports Direct. But it might as well be Siberia. It’s not as busy and has no power, so some - like baked potato man Nick Shepherd - can’t operate at all.

Najam Zahoor, who sells caps, wallets and jewellery at Moorfoot: “I’ve had no customers and no sales. And I can’t have a heater to keep warm.”

placeholder image — Najam Zahoor, who sells caps, wallets and jewellery at Moorfoot: “I’ve had no customers and no sales. And I can’t have a heater to keep warm.”

Market traders work in a thin zone between profit and loss, especially in bad weather. Throw in a cost-of-living crisis and some have been left teetering on the very edge of survival.

Yet their impact is huge. Ask anyone in Sheffield if they want to see the outdoor market disappear and the answer will be ‘no’. Markets ARE Sheffield. King Edward I granting a market charter 727 years ago, on November 12 1296, is one of the defining moments in the city’s history.

They are also an important social hub where longstanding customers become friends. And they are economically important, not just for stallholders and their families, but the surrounding shops which, it is claimed, have already seen a drop in footfall. Twenty empty and windswept market stalls three days a week just look depressing.

NewRiver’s portfolio includes 28 shopping centres and 15 retail parks. The firm took days to explain its decision to The Star and has since clammed up - which suggests it realises this was a bad move. Have bosses ever left their plush offices and visited The Moor, or stood on a market stall all day in winter?

Twenty empty and windswept stalls three days at week on The Moor do not indicate a thriving shopping centre.

Perhaps if they did they’d learn a thing or two about commitment, loyalty and commerce - and reverse a terrible decision that threatens hard working traders with ruin.