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Business owner sells last restaurant, blaming LTNs

Esme Kenney
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Google A screenshot from Google Street View showing a yellow restaurant building with large windows on a street corner, with a few people walking on the pavement in front of it. To the left of it is a road sign banning cars and motorcycles from turning into the road.Google
Kazbar on Cowley Road was Clinton Pugh's last remaining business in Oxford

A business owner said he has sold his last business after facing losses of about £1m over the past three years due to the impact of traffic filters.

Clinton Pugh, father of Hollywood actress Florence Pugh, has owned a number of cafes and restaurants in Oxford, including The Lemon Tree and Café Coco.

He said he decided to sell his remaining business, Kazbar on Cowley Road, earlier this year due to financial pressures, saying the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) was the "main nail in the coffin".

Oxfordshire County Council said LTNs and traffic filters were designed to make residential streets better for walkers and cyclists, and their impact would be "carefully monitored".

Reuters Florence Pugh, wearing a light green strapless dress and with her short blonde hair styled into a quiff, smiling at the camera against a black background.Reuters
Mr Pugh is the father of Hollywood actress Florence Pugh

Mr Pugh, who first opened a business in the city 40 years ago, said the sale of Kazbar marked "the end of an era".

He said wider economic factors had impacted trade but described the LTNs as the "main nail in the coffin".

"Kazbar's turnover has dropped significantly over the last three years since the LTNs have gone in. So had Café Coco," he said. "I've lost about £1m, if not more."

Mr Pugh said the traffic measures had also made it more difficult to attract staff.

"If they don't live locally then they don't want to pay for taxis to come in," he said.

Google A person pushing a bicycle and wearing blue jeans and trainers, a dark jacket and a red woolly hat, walks past a cafe with a large sign reading Cafe CoCo. The walls of the building are painted yellow.Google
Mr Pugh sold Cafe CoCo last year

A council spokesperson said the measures were designed to reduce traffic, speed up bus travel and make walking and cycling safer.

"When the traffic filters trial starts after Network Rail reopens Botley Road, expected to be August 2026, it will be a new way to reduce traffic and make it easier to get around the city," they said.

The filters will only apply to cars, all other vehicles will be automatically exempt, said the spokesperson, adding there were "17 types of free permit for car drivers to travel through the filters".

They said the trial will be carefully monitored and evaluated, including an analysis of footfall and spending data in the city centre, as well as Cowley Road, Cowley centre, Headington, Jericho and Summertown.

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