Traders in South Bristol’s main shopping street fear roadworks that are expected to last more than two years will "kill us all off" before they see the benefits of the influx of thousands of new residents.
Business leaders in Bedminster say they are keen to put a message to people that all the shops, cafes and businesses in East Street are still very much open - and urged people not to be put off by the one-way closure of the main road through the area.
But some traders said they have already experienced a noticeable drop in customers in the week since Bristol City Council closed the main road northbound and said it would remain closed for two and a half years.
READ MORE: Bedminster Green - the latest on massive development project as work begins
The work to install a District Heat Network to supply heating to the new Bedminster Green regeneration scheme either side of the A38 Malago Road in Bedminster began on Monday, January 10, with car traffic northbound up the main road blocked.
The council said the closure would be in place until the summer of 2024, which has been met with exasperation and incredulity by traders and shopkeepers in nearby East Street.
The closure means that East Street’s main car park - at Little Paradise - is inaccessible by car off Malago Road from the south, and anyone trying to get to it faces a detour all the way up to the Bedminster Bridge roundabout and back down Malago Road.
The car park is usually "pretty full" during the day, but during a visit yesterday (Monday, January 17) it was only about one third full.
And according to a number of traders up and down East Street, they are already noticing a decline in trade.
“It just seems completely unnecessary to be so draconian - that the road is closed like that for such a long time,” said Ian Scantlebury, who runs Cash Converters on East Street.
“Everyone’s being really positive about the building work - we’re really looking forward to all the new people who will be moving here, and it’s obviously going to be a benefit, but there will be businesses in the short term are going to fold.
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“People’s shopping habits will change, that’s the fear. You go up to the car park any day of the week and it’s always pretty full. Now, there’s barely a car there. There’s no signage directing people where to go to get round to it, and it feels like a very long time.
“I simply can’t understand why it’s going to be closed for so long. It feels like someone at the council has not paid much attention to the impact this will have,” he added.
At the East Street stalwart, the Sunshine Cafe, staff were fuming at the changes.
“It’s very much different, last week, to normal,” said one member of staff.
“It’ll kill all the businesses here, they can’t get to the car park behind, and they’re not coming - we’re down last week. In two years’ time I don’t know how many businesses are going to be here.
“They need to do something to fix this,” he added.
At the Sea Pearl fish and chip restaurant, one manager, George, told of how the road closure was causing lots of problems for delivery riders and drivers accessing the side road, and also for their customers who drive into Little Paradise car park to pick up their orders or come and eat.
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Surveying a largely empty restaurant at lunchtime, he said: “We would normally be near enough full, and look at it now.
“In the day time, we’ve seen a fall in customers, and in the evening. People will pop out to get fish and chips and don’t make it here. They have to go all around the houses to get to us, and by the time they do, they either don’t want fish and chips anymore, or they’ve found somewhere else on the way.
“I think it’s a nightmare. It’s been a real problem for the delivery riders too - the other night they were backing up down the side road because they can’t come out of here and head in to town that way,” he explained.
The Bedminster Green development could see more than 2,000 new homes built on five plots either side of Malago Road and Dalby Avenue, just yards from East Street - which has had a worrying past few years for traders, but is now the subject of an ambitious £10 million regeneration project itself.
Work on two Bedminster Green sites has already begun, amid controversy at the number of affordable homes being built and the size, height and style of the apartment blocks.
Most traders on East Street have been enthusiastic backers of the Bedminster Green development, but there has been widespread concern about the way the council has handled the roadworks that have accompanied the start of it.
Businesses were given just a couple of weeks' notice that the main road to East Street’s main car park was going to be closed for two and a half years, and no explanation of why it is due to take so long.
What do business leaders say?
Simon Dicken, the chair of Bedminster Business Improvement District, is the manager of East Street’s biggest store - Wilko.
He urged people to still come to East Street, and said he hoped business would not be affected too much, because only a fraction of the people visiting the semi-pedestrianised street actually come by car. The vast majority walk, while a sizeable number arrive by bus - and the bus service is unaffected by the changes.
But he said business leaders were monitoring the situation closely, and would be asking the council for better signage.
“The BID is always concerned about road closures that may affect the trade of the businesses that we represent and are watching very carefully to see how footfall is affected over the coming weeks," he said.
“We do however understand the need for the investment in the infrastructure that will help facilitate what exciting developments that are on the horizon.
“We hope that our customers arriving by car still make the effort to come because we are still very much open for business, as are all the local car parks - see the map below - and of course access from the many surrounding areas and buses is not really affected very much at all," he added.
“It’s just drivers in cars who want to drive towards the city, however plenty of nearby public car parks and/or supermarket car parks such as Asda and Lidl are only a few minutes walk from East Street," he said.
"Indeed we have many new businesses that have joined the unique shopping experience of East Street in the past year, including a bakery, deli, clothes shop, independents’ 'emporium', a bar and more to come, so there is plenty to see and do.
“We do have access to footfall data and if it is very badly affected we will be calling on the council to take mitigation steps such as staggering the work to enable access to perhaps half the street two-ways," he added.
“We also have asked for ways the works can be speeded up or staged to reduce the amount of time that is required to reduce the access to one way."
What does Bristol City Council say?
A week ago, Bristol Live asked Bristol City Council a number of questions about the roadworks that have closed Malago Road one way, addressing:
- Why the work would take two and a half years.
- Whether there would be work going on there all day, every day
- Whether there could or would be times that Malago Road could be reopened both ways during the two and a half years
- What consideration was made by highways chiefs that Malago Road could be opened northbound towards the city centre in the mornings, and that direction reversed with the rush hour in the late afternoons
- The impact of the closure combined with the Clean Air Zone, which begins later this year - lorries and vans liable for the CAZ charge could have to drive through it to access the industrial areas around Whitehouse Lane, because of the northbound closure of Malago Road
Bristol City Council has not yet responded.
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