A frustrated County Durham cafe owner is worried about the future of his beloved business, due to roadworks opposite which he says are costing him valuable customers.
James Gardener created Bean Social on North Road in 2017, and although this year he should be celebrating his business' fifth birthday, he is instead bogged down by the prospect of closing down for good.
Durham County Council began regenerating their city centre bus station - directly opposite James' shop - just prior to the first Covid lockdown of 2020. And although works were scheduled to finish in March this year, delays have forced the completion date to be knocked back until spring 2023.
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The virus forced James, like many business owners, to lose essential trade and he was hoping to bounce back stronger than ever post-pandemic. However the reconstruction of the bus station has not allowed him to do so - with him claiming many customers avoid North Road altogether due to crowds of public transport users and rows and rows of buses.
Speaking to Chronicle Live, the 39-year-old from Newcastle said: "If you pop yourself down to Durham, you'll see the horror show that is North Road. The bus station came down about a year and a half, maybe two years ago and it was due to be complete this year.
"There's been absolutely nothing done on it for the last three weeks - it's just an absolute joke. The way they've sort of staggered the buses is just a stranglehold on North Road - it's just killed it.
"We've gone from being a very busy street to just a different wall of humanity. People are just milling around and waiting for buses, blocking the shop doors."
He added: "When I'm speaking to my regulars, it's basically a case of seeing them from two or three times a week to maybe twice a month. I'll say stuff like 'long time no see' and they tell me that they've wanted to pop in but when they've got off the bus at the bottom of the road that it's so busy with people that they don't want to walk through it.
"Because of the crowds, it's stopping a lot of people from walking directly into Durham - they'll take another route. They don't come through the main street anymore and it's a compounding problem."
Far from your regular cafe, Bean Social was designed as a place for all and it's more than just a business to James and his clientele. It's a widely accepting place for people of all walks of life, and has specialist equipment installed to help cater for those suffering mental health conditions - such as a sensory garden and sound-dampening walls.
This is one of the main reasons that James decided to begin his venture, to bring an extra slice of culture to the ever growing region of County Durham.
He continued: "The whole point of the cafe was it was gonna be a different sort of independent cafe. One that didn't just target one group of people, you know like your indie crowd or your rock crowd, or your trendy crowd. It was gonna be a cafe that targeted anyone.
"Anyone's welcome."
While trying to find a solution to his lack of business, James has decided to call on generous members of the public to help him get by until things are back to normal. He has set a target of £10,000 to assist him in his businesses endeavours over the space of the next year or so, and has already achieved £6,486 thus far.
On the Crowdfunding page, James wrote: "As we approach the end of our lease, our financial position is precarious and we don't have the financial buffer to cover the liability of renewing the lease. If this crowd funder fails, we will close. Commercial leases are such that if you close before the end of the agreed contract, any payment owed must be honoured.
"There is hope though. Our building has recently been taken over by a new landlord who has the utmost confidence that upon completion of the bus station, and North Road ceasing to be utterly chaotic, we will thrive once more. As a gesture of this belief, our landlord has offered us an 18-month extension on our lease which should see us through to the bus station being completed.
"We wholeheartedly believe that once the bus station is completed, we will prosper."
He added: "To move forward we need to create a buffer fund to counteract the normal unpredictability of trade until the bus station build is completed, as we have exhausted our working capital fighting to survive.
"We need to raise £10,000 in order to be able to sign the lease extension and keep us open beyond September. If we can't sign the lease, we will close at the end of August. With the money raised, we would also be able to cover any unexpected expenses, such as machinery breakdowns, and also help us cover costs if we see a further drop in trade during the bus station construction.
"Since the bus station rebuild started, we have seen a drop in trade of 33%, which we expect to recover and go beyond, once the new bus station is completed."
He has also reached out to MP Mary Kelly Foy, who has been supporting him as well as writing to the County Council urging them to take action to support the affected business.
In a letter to the council she wrote: "The future is uncertain for these businesses, not least as there appears to be no activity on the site of the former bus station. The original timescales would have seen the bus station reopening soon, however that has now been pushed back."
In response, County Durham Council said that it is looking into what can be done to support business owners like James, in recognition of their importance to Durham.
Craig MacLennnan, Durham County Council’s transport and infrastructure manager, said: “We are sorry to hear of the difficulties Mr Gardner has been experiencing. Our economic development team is looking into what can be done to support him and other businesses on North Road, in recognition of its importance as a trading centre.
“The redevelopment of the bus station will provide a state of the art, first class facility that can act as a catalyst for the regeneration of North Road, helping local businesses by attracting additional investment in the area which has the potential to generate more passing trade.
“We have experienced some unforeseen issues with the project and difficulties sourcing some of the materials required for the work to be in keeping with the conservation area, but we are doing everything we can to minimise impact on local traders. Signs are in place to advise passing motorists that North Road remains open for business.
"We also consider feedback on the use of temporary bus stops, have reallocated services previously to reduce crowding at certain stands, and remain open to doing so. We will continue to work towards the new facility opening as soon as possible in 2023 and thank people for their patience and understanding in the meantime.”
To find out more about James' story, you can visit his Crowdfunding page, here.
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