Coventry trade site 'almost a no-go area' due to roadworks

Coventry traders say weeks of roadworks are putting off customers and creating a devastating impact on their livelihoods.

Businesses at Arches Industrial Estate say footfall has plummeted since work started at Spon End in September.

"It's almost a no-go area," claimed Tony Dicey, who runs car body shop Paint Junky Garage with his brother.

Delays mean the roadworks are expected to last until summer 2023.

The project was needed to relieve pressure on Holyhead Road and avoid a Clean Air Zone being introduced, the city council said.

But some traders fear their businesses will not survive, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Dicey, 42, said before the roadworks started, the four-year-old business had one of its best ever years.

But the impact of the roadworks was "instant", he added, and said business at the garage, which partly relied on walk-ins, fell by 44% in September. 

Business is said to be down by about 15 to 20% each month since - money they usually used to pay their own wages, said Mr Dicey.

"There's usually a buzz about the place. It's like the school holidays now," he said.

With rising costs of supplies and energy bills, he said he feared he would not be able to stay open much longer.

"It's easy to blame roadworks [but] all I have got to compare it with is how it was before," he told LDRS.

David Bowes, 45, who has run Davey B's snack bar for eight years, said both walk-ins and deliveries had been hit.

Drivers cancelled because of the traffic and food sometimes got to customers cold, he said.

"One of my regulars says even though the food is great, is it really worth the hassle?"

Chris Randall, who runs music and functions premises Arches Venue, estimated it had lost about two-thirds of its business because of the roadworks.

He said customers were also struggling to find a way to the site due, he added, to a ban on right turns in and out of the estate.

It's been awful," he said. "Last weekend we had 20 people in the room. Normally, our bands play to at least a hundred."

The council said right turns out of the estate had been lost as a result of the work, but "all other manoeuvres" were "maintained".

The authority said it met with representatives from the estate to talk about its work to improve air quality and thanked people for their patience.

"This work is vital or we will be instructed by government to install a charge zone," a spokesperson said.

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