PINNER Fair has been saved after the organisers decided they would foot the whole bill – but the future of the 700-year-old tradition is still uncertain.

The fair, which has been running since 1336, looked set to be axed after Harrow Council refused to continue subsidising it.

However, the Showmen's Guild, who run the fair, have decided to pay the whole costs, which are estimated at being about £40,000 this year.

A spokesperson from the Guild said: "The fair is going ahead and we are working at the moment to try and get things moving for it, but we will have to take each year as it comes."

Councillor Susan Hall, cabinet member for environment and community safety, said: "The council is very proud of the fact it has got this chartered fair.

"We have been subsiding it to an extent but with increasings costs and the pressure we have with new budgets we don't think our residents should have to pay for something that is, in affect, a commercial venture.

"Over previous years we have been asked to put more and more money into it and this year we simply could not.

"We had conversations with the Showmen's Guild and they have now agreed to foot the bill completely. We still have to sign on the dotted lines but it's more or less finalised.

"We are very happy that it has come to a resolution and it's now up to the Showmen's Guild to decide how they want to take it forward."

Since the 14 th Century the fair has been protected by Royal Charter giving the organisers the right to run it on the first Wednesday after May Bank Holiday.

It is visited annually by more than 40,000 people and it is the only street fair left in Middlesex.

Pinner South councillor, Chris Mote, was born and bred in Pinner and has been going to the fair for 60 years.

He said: "Some people complain about the fair and some people like it but it goes back a long way and if one year it fails to happen it means it can never be held again.

"It is a tradition and I think if we lose it we will lose our identity and then what have we got left?"

The fair is being held on May 27 this year.