Campaign launched to save popular Sheffield park fairground rides which are set to be replaced
Concerns raised over ‘transparency’ of tendering process
Supporters of a popular Sheffield park fairground are launching a fight to stop it being taken away.
Sheffield Council has told Jon Pullin's Amusements Sheffield, a family business which has been running rides in a space between the playground and the cafe in Endcliffe Park, that their contract will end in November.
Another operator is expected to be brought in in November, but it is not known what they will have on offer to the public. It comes amid concerns over other long established operators of entertainments who have lost their tenders.
Now, a campaign has been started by locals to stop the Pullins family which has operated the site, next to Ecclesall Road since the 1980s from being forced to leave.
Barbara Masters, the ward councillor for Ecclesall on Sheffield Council, has set up a petition with the local community, and says she is concerned that the process which has led to Pullins being moved has not been transparent enough.
She said: “I’ve been working with Joe Pullin on the next steps and we’re setting up a petition as we believe it’s not a simple case of losing out to a better bid.
“It’s very popular and it worries me that there has been a history over the years and there are traditional offerings that are being slowly removed.
“I’m concerned about what will replace it, because we have not got the details. We have been unable to see the tender offer. What is there at present is a traditional offering that people appreciated, that people have used for generations, and I don’t know how much weighting is attached to that.
“We know how Pullins react with the families and people, and that it is a very welcoming place.”
The Pullin family operate a bouncy castle, and inflatable slide, and some small, children’s rides. They have been a fixture in the park for generations, in a space between the children’s playground and the park cafe.
The petition which she has backed states: “We, the undersigned, call on the Council to urgently review its decision to remove Jon Pullin Amusements from Endcliffe Park after 40 years of operation. It’s a cherished Sheffield family business, holding a unique place in the city’s heritage, removed without the public being informed.
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“We demand full transparency in the tendering process and for the Council to publish the policy which was used to draw up the tender...”
They want assurances that the criteria used to assess bids would not automatically exclude Pullin from proposing a successful bid, as well as details of the the weighting given to each element, information to show that what is proposed will enhance the provision, and they want to known how financial bids were balanced against the quality and value of the offer.
Joe Pullin has told of his sadness over the loss of the contract.
He said his family had been asked personally to take the plot in Endcliffe Park in the 1980s because no one had been able to make it work.
He said: “They asked us to do it because they knew we had a name in Sheffield. We’ve been showmen in the city for around 150 years.
“We’ve known since March, when the tender packs went out. We’ll be open again this weekend, although we’re not open during the week at the moment because it’s not the school holidays.
“I’ve spoken to people about what’s happened, and people have said they’re really sorry to hear about it. We’ve had a lot of support locally and local mums have offered to help us with a petition.
“It will be in Banner Cross Post Office, there will be on in the park cafe, and there will be a copy on a table by the rides.”
He said after they saw Cuneos moved, who had previously sold ice cream in the park from one of their ice cream vans, they were concerned about what may happen.
”We don’t know what to do next,” he said. “It is different people at the council now from those who asked us to go there in the first place.
“We have been running it as a service as much as anything else, and we don’t have another site. We have had a number in parks in the city, but they’ve been taken away.
“We’ve been operating in Sheffield for a long time and have a great reputation and family history.”
Joe, aged 31, says he has grown up working in Endcliffe Park and spent much of his childhood there. There are pictures of him at the site of the bouncy castle as a child.
“I’ve been there my entire life,” he said. “I spent my childhood playing in the woods there. It’s not going to be the same.”
It is not the first time there have been suggestions that the Pullin’s rides may be moved. Last time, celebrities including Def Leppard joined a campaign to keep them there.
The Pullin family previously also ran the paddle boats on Millhouses Park boating lake.
They were also replaced by another operator, which brought bigger boats onto the lake rather than the smaller ones which had been known to generations of children.
Sheffield Council said an open tender process was carried out to invite bids from potential operators for the Endcliffe Park children’s rides, which allowed multiple organisations to apply and be considered on a fair and transparent basis.
The council’s Charity Trustee Sub Committee reviewed the bids and made the decision. The council says it was acting in the best interests of the Endcliffe Park Charity, and the committee had a legal duty to support the long-term sustainability of the charity.
They added in a statement: “The recommended operator submitted the highest-value financial offer. This ensures the maximum possible income is generated for the charity.
”All income from the arrangement will be used to support the upkeep and maintenance of Endcliffe Park.
“We would like to thank Jon Pullins for the years they have brought benefit to the charity and happiness to children using the rides in the park.
“We are also grateful for the respectful way they have engaged with the outcome of the tender process. “