Street

affect

traders'

takings

TRADERS in King Street last week blamed road works for a significant drop in business.

Barry Dunne, who runs the Casa Pilinca restaurant, said regular customers were staying away as workmen resurfaced the road.

"We're well down at lunch-time when it's normally really steady," he said. "People usually park up and pop across but even the regulars are not coming in."

The repairs are expected to finish on February 28, but shopkeepers fear the road works will have had a considerable effect on takings by the time the job is done.

"I feel sorry for all the restaurants because the dust and the filth must be really bad for them," said Terry Jones, who runs Techno Type.

Morgue

"It's been like a morgue since the work started. In this town people bob in and out of shops and they can't do that at the moment."

Many also claimed that it proved once again that pedestrianisation would not work in Knutsford.

"We are against pedestrianisation and this has proved what effect it would have," said Rachel Burke, landlord of the Cross Keys Hotel.

"It has been quiet at lunch-times. You could put a part of that down to the time of year, but it has had an effect."

Town councillors at their meeting last week also expressed concerns about the effect of the resurfacing work.

"Because of the hurry to get on with the job they've done something we don't want," said Clr Barbara Austin.

"The traders are unhappy about the ways the contractors have gone about this. They should be brought to book."