FURIOUS traders have accused Birmingham City Council of a “betrayal” after it dramatically pulled funding for the relocation of the wholesale markets.

They say they have been given until February 2013 to find a new home and raise tens of millions of pounds – prompting fears the market, which has existed for 800 years, could close.

Shocked traders, who sell fresh fruit and veg, meat, fish and poultry to businesses, schools and restaurants throughout the Midlands, were told that their future is in doubt during meetings with council managers at the Digbeth market.

But the council has denied that it will evict the traders on that date and pledged to do everything – short of providing funding – to help them relocate.

The market, the largest in Britain with 235 stalls, was due to be replaced with an £80 million state-of-the-art facility at the former IMI site in Witton but the deal collapsed.

It had been set to be jointly funded by the council, now defunct regional development agency Advantage West Midlands, and a private developer.

The council claims the 37-year-old building is crumbling and beyond economic repair. It has earmarked its prime city centre site for lucrative sale and redevelopment.

It is based on a 21-acre site off Pershore Street and has 13,000 visitors a week. There are 94 individual traders and businesses spread across the 235 units.

But traders say the incredible cost of relocating – the previous site at Witton was going to need £80 million – which has to be found in just 18 months, means the whole future of the market is in serious doubt.

Chairman of the market traders Mark Tate, of George Perry fruit and veg, said: “They have strung us along with the Witton market for about five years and then suddenly it is all off and we’ve got 18 months to sort ourselves out.

"It feels like a betrayal. We were just shocked, we are not going to find anywhere in that time.