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Bridge Street closure in Christchurch hitting businesses where it hurts

12:00pm Sunday 31st January 2010 in


BUSINESS owners in Christchurch are reporting the worst January trading for years due to ongoing roadworks in the town.

The six-week closure of Bridge Street seems to be causing people to stay away from the town rather than face potential traffic problems.

The continuing work includes replacing a main gas pipe as well as investigative work on Waterloo Bridge nearest the Civic Offices and electric cable replacement.

Terry Atkinson, secretary of Christchurch Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said: “It’s causing a lot of problems. We are concerned because, despite promises from the council, the appropriate signage was not put up to make it clear what was accessible and what wasn’t.

“Many delivery vehicles did not know which was Waterloo Bridge, as it is not a name commonly used. We are not allowed to put up any additional signage.

“All they could advise was to put up some signage on private property. It is very disappointing.”

Kim Harris from Vee Young Florists in Church Street said: “It’s terrible, absolutely awful. This has to be the worst January we have had. People may be saying the recession is over but there are no signs of it here.

“I have only had two customers in again today. Everybody is saying the same and some people are closing their shops during the week because there is no point them being open.

“This is just not the trade that we are used to and soon there won’t be any shops left here.

“It’s no longer a question of when we will recover from this. It’s more like if we will.”

Paul Riley economic development manager at Christchurch Borough Council said in view of the difficult situation traders were facing they were working with them to devise a solution to try and help.

Comments(12)

dancingdog says...
5:15pm Sun 31 Jan 10

Since one cannot park in the High Street any more (unless you are disabled) and there is more yellow paint on the roads than in the Dulux paint factory, It's just not worth going to Christchurch.
But wasn't that the council's purpose anyway, to prevent cars in the town centre?
Unfortunately the idiots in the Civic Centre don't realise that no cars = no people!

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twynham says...
8:17pm Sun 31 Jan 10

"We are concerned because, despite promises from the council, the appropriate signage was not put up to make it clear what was accessible and what wasn’t. "

Oh! Come on. If you can't work out a simple parallel diversion you should be using the bus.

Also, the worst trading in January couldn’t be anything to do with the weather or the fact that people are generally more skint this year?

Also, both bridges are around 800 years old with Transdev busses going over them every 7 minutes, don’t you think the occasional piece of maintenance is advisory?

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rainbowkisses says...
8:56pm Sun 31 Jan 10

Sounds to me as if Steve Kent from Boscombe Traders has been dishing out his excuses book. The reason I, and loads of others, don't go to Christchurch to shop, is there is sod all there worth buying. Overpriced tat is all Christchurch has to offer.

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tt52 says...
8:59pm Sun 31 Jan 10

Christchurch is finished as a shopping centre and has been getting worse for a few years, high rents, high parking charges, road works and now the saxon square facelift has been put on hold, christchurch will be a ghost town in a few months and the council is the main culprit for this happening, castle point for local shopping or wesy quay in Southampton or gun wharf in portsmouth, these three are what you call a shopping centre, christchurch has become the local corner shop of dorset.

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twynham says...
9:04pm Sun 31 Jan 10

But; it's still where time is pleasant because most of the Chavs go to:-

"castle point for local shopping or wesy quay in Southampton or gun wharf in portsmouth"

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tt52 says...
9:13pm Sun 31 Jan 10

twynham wrote:
But; it's still where time is pleasant because most of the Chavs go to:-

"castle point for local shopping or wesy quay in Southampton or gun wharf in portsmouth"
Please name one instance of pleasantness in a place with sky high parking charges, yellow lines on every road, parking attendants on every corner, empty shops, dirty streets, saxon square which looks and feels like the inside of a toilet, traffic jams, road works the list goes on, its an absolute dump, christchurch has no clue what pleasant is, its the second boscombe. security words --good-town, thats a joke

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twynham says...
9:23pm Sun 31 Jan 10

A few instances,

Stanpit Marsh, Convent Walk, The Quay, The Quomps, The Water Meadows, The Rowing Club on a Sunday lunch time, The Thomas Tripp, The Music Festival, Stomping on the Quomps, The Regatta;

I could go on, but, a lot of what you say is true, not quite Boscombe yet, but if we are not careful, who knows!

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russ1977 says...
9:25pm Sun 31 Jan 10

If the council had any sense they would have bent over backwards to ensure the town centre businesses did not suffer as a result of these works. They should stop thinking about their own immediate interests and revenues and take dynamic and drastic steps to support the town through the hardest time in decades. If they made all the town centre car parks free for january and february they would see a massive difference in the number of shoppers. And seeing as there are very few people in the town at the moment, they would not lose much revenue as a result..
A little bit of care, thought and communication is all it would take. Unfortunately the town councillors and it's employees do not seem to be able to offer any of these characteristics..
It's a great shame...!

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twynham says...
9:31pm Sun 31 Jan 10

Hang on a minute russ1977, it’s not in the Council’s interest that the bridges are maintained, it’s in ours!
Oh! Sh#t, I’ve just defended the Council.

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rotcoddam says...
10:05pm Sun 31 Jan 10

Seems to me that it is years since Bridge / Castle streets went a complete year without some form of disruptive road works.

I was in Christchurch the other day. Found no problem parking, even without blue badge, on market day. Nice pleasent stroll about several nice shops to look in, one or two nice places to eat and drink, unlike Boscombe which is nothing but letting agents and coffee and doughnut bars. Saxon Square.. what exactly is wrong with it. Yep one or two empty shops, like most high streets, but most seemed to be trading.If you folks think this is a toilet then stay away from Boscombe and Bournemouth.

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Jimmy Grange says...
6:31pm Mon 1 Feb 10

Twynham, Christchurch mentions the fact that both bridges are 800 years old, and these form part of the history of this historic town, so surely both bridges should be subjected to a weight limit. I would personally prefer to see the bridges serve the locality for many years to come, and not there for the convenience of buses. If a weight limit is imposed, the bus companies will have to re-route services between Stoney Lane and the town centre, as they do on Mondays. Yellow Buses are already causing problems for the residents of Purewell with their request to have the Purewell on street parking bays removed for their convenience. Oh, I believe that if they win the case, their next demand is to have all on road parking along Bargates removed as well. The bus companies do not give a dam about the inconvenience to residents, so why should we let them keep driving over our old, frail and historic heritage.

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russ1977 says...
10:44pm Mon 1 Feb 10

twynham wrote:
Hang on a minute russ1977, it’s not in the Council’s interest that the bridges are maintained, it’s in ours!
Oh! Sh#t, I’ve just defended the Council.
I'm not refering to the work on the bridges as being in the interests of the council. The interests of the council i refer to are things like revenues from car parking and various other things which get too much attention/investment from councillors but offer very little benefit to the town...

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