Pricing & segmentsTavistock Goose Fair
Tavistock Town Council’s 2025 exhibitor information for the Goose Fair on 8 October 2025 charges £12.20 per foot of frontage for commercial stalls and £6.20 for charity stalls, which is about 51% by our arithmetic, plus £8.50 per foot of diameter for circular stalls and rides and £38 for fly pitches. Fees rose 5% in 2023 and were frozen in 2024, and officers proposed 3.5% for 2025, worth £1,452 of extra income, which implies fee income of about £41,500 by our arithmetic. The council’s notes say 2024 trading was poor because of weather and that the fair made a modest loss, with the Park and Ride becoming a material cost.
Why might the council charge charity stalls about half the commercial rate, and how would it decide whether to raise fees again? Practise this in AO2 Application.
Interpreting numbersTavistock Business Improvement District
Tavistock & Gulworthy Today reported on 22 July 2026 that 131 businesses voted in the renewal ballot for the Tavistock Business Improvement District, with 111 in favour, which is 85% by number and 92% by rateable value, on a turnout of 42%. That implies about 312 eligible businesses by our arithmetic, and it is the district’s fourth five-year term. The paper gives the annual promotional budget as £107,000, but a later article says £107,000 over five years, so the two disagree. The levy rate and the votes against aren’t stated.
Why might the yes vote be higher by rateable value than by number, and which £107,000 figure would you check first? Step by step in AO3 Analysis.
Strategy & stakeholdersLawsons
Lawsons announced on 5 January 2026 that its home furnishings store on Parkwood Road in Tavistock would close at the end of February after about 34 years. The North Devon Gazette reported that the store had been on the market for about two years, that talks with potential buyers over 18 months found none to continue it as a going concern, and that the building was sold to Julian Foye the Furnishers of Cornwall for its first Devon showroom. Lawsons’ Ivybridge and Totnes stores stay open. No financial figures or staff numbers were published.
Should a family retailer close a long-established store when no buyer will run it as a going concern, and who gains or loses? A real judgement for AO4 Evaluation.
Tavistock’s economy in the classroom
Wikipedia gives Tavistock 12,675 residents at the 2021 census, but the page doesn’t define the area. A town council fair, a business improvement district and a family retailer give students real contexts for pricing, interpreting numbers and strategy. We tie these themes to topics on the specification.
Sources: Wikipedia, Tavistock; Tavistock Town Council, Goose Fair exhibitor information 2025 and fee-setting notes, 24 February 2025; Tavistock & Gulworthy Today, 22 and 30 July 2026; North Devon Gazette and Housewares Live on Lawsons, January 2026; Tavistock College pages. The 51%, 312 and £41,500 figures are our arithmetic, the BID budget figure conflicts between articles, and the fair’s income and expenditure schedule wasn’t in the papers we read.
