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Crunch time: Stanley John Cubbins

Like every other ride at the fairground near Bolton’s Reebok Stadium, the Waltzer is strangely quiet. Which is odd, considering it's a sunny afternoon during the school holidays when you'd expect it to be overrun with whooping, screaming kids.

It’s run by 55-year-old Stanley John Cubbins from Bolton, who, like his father and grandfather before him, is a travelling showman. He says business has halved since last year:

"It’s the worst we’ve known it for many, many years. People are cutting back dramatically on luxuries. And I have to say that a fairground, in this day and age, is a sort of luxury."

But it’s not just the problem of persuading people to part with their money. Travelling shows are also being hit by soaring fuel prices on two fronts: both vehicles and rides are powered by diesel.

"Our cost of fuel has gone up 100% in the past 12 months," he says. "And of course, all the generators run on diesel. We don’t have an alternative - a generator won’t run on fresh air or water. It’s got to have fuel. We don’t have a choice."

Disappearing

Traditional fairground sites are also disappearing. As brownfield sites in town centres are being developed, fairs are being forced onto out-of-town sites, making it even more difficult to attract people onto rides.

So why not pass on the costs, like other businesses are doing, and put up ticket prices?

All quiet on the dodgems

"People are already struggling to pay," says Stanley John. "If we put the prices up anymore, it’s going to alienate us even further still. So putting up the price of rides up is not an option, as far as I’m concerned."

Trapped by a triple whammy of falling income, rising fuel prices and fewer sites, can Stanley John see a future for the traditional fairground and its families?

"Unless we get some severe help from government down in London and at a local help, then, no I don’t. The future is very bleak at this moment in time."

Stanley John Cubbins is a member of the Showmen's Guild