Stratford-upon-Avon businesses blast "ridiculous" £200k Covid safety measures

[dutchman]

Businesses said customers and delivery drivers found it difficult to access the stores and added that the town looked like "a complete eyesore"



A tempest is brewing in Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon after council bosses turned the historic town into "an eyesore" by spending £200,000 on garish safety barriers and unfinished tarmac.

Businesses say they are being driven out of the Bard's hometown after "shambolic" attempts at making the area Covid safe forced visitors away over the summer.

Tourists who were able to visit after the first lockdown said it "looked like there had been a terrorist attack" due to the number of safety barriers that had been erected.

The bright yellow barricades were placed along streets outside stores, cafes and restaurants making it impossible to park outside or gain access for deliveries.

Now roads have been partially resurfaced, which has left tarmac only running down the centre of some streets in one of England's most historic market towns.

Shop owners say they are being forced to move elsewhere in a bid to save their livelihoods after the chaotic social distancing measures crippled their businesses.

They said customers had also started branding the place Blackpool-upon-Avon after funfairs were allowed during the pandemic while local retailers suffered.

So far, the measures implemented in the Warwickshire town following the end of the first coronavirus lockdown in June have cost at least £192,000.

Art gallery owner Emma Clegg, 50, told how she had been forced to up and leave to Broadway in the Cotswolds due to the ongoing problems.

She said clients stopped venturing into the town due to a lack of parking, the new confusing road system and being unable to receive deliveries due to the barriers.

Emma, who runs The Stratford Gallery, said: “The pandemic was such a body blow for all the retailers. The weekend before we were allowed to reopen they put up all these barriers which were an absolute eyesore.

“Stratford is an old town, not a modern shopping mall; there are no rear entrances so we couldn’t have deliveries as the vans couldn’t get to us.

“They were having to stop in the middle of the road and were having to hand stuff over the barriers.

“Our customers couldn’t even come and collect work. The barriers just made it really difficult for people to navigate the town.

“The council also changed the traffic system so it didn’t flow anymore and even the locals were saying they couldn’t even find their way around the town.

“And a lot of our customers were phoning us and saying that they were giving up and were going home.”

Emma, who runs the gallery with husband Howard, 52, said a petition was launched and signed by over 100 people but claimed their pleas to town hall chiefs fell on deaf ears.

She added: “It was all ridiculous and badly thought through - all the shops were up in arms.

“The undertakers a few doors down from us were stuck as they had left the barrier so narrow that they couldn’t get the hearse out.

“Another chap from the council said something along the lines of 'let’s face it most of you are going to lose your businesses after this time.'

“These people are supposed to be leading and supporting us. That was their attitude - it was a bit like being on The Titanic."

[dutchman]

A tempest is brewing