Midhurst businesses speak out as North Street closure takes its toll

North Street, a major road through the town centre, was first closed back in March, following a devastating fire which destroyed most of the historic Angel Inn. The road was closed shortly afterwards as owners and partners worked to salvage what remains of the grade II listed building’s historic frontage. More than seven weeks later, it is still closed, despite the pervasive effect it has had on businesses.

Speaking to a reporter at the protest, antique shop owner Caroline Bloomfield said: “It’s been (over) six weeks, and small businesses cannot survive without customers. And we have no customers now. We’ve had a few trickling through but, because the roads are so appalling people have given up trying to get here.

“The crucial thing is to get the building shored up and get the traffic moving again . Get that building shored up, it doesn’t matter who does it , just do it.”

Geoff Allnutt, who owns a clock repair and restoration business in Midhurst shared many of the same concerns, adding that he hopes the protest has made a big enough splash. “A good 300 people turned up, so the turnout was really good. It shows the depth of feeling in Midhurst about this; there were young people in the crowd, old people, and everyone in between.”

“The road closure has been catastrophic for businesses. For those businesses that rely on footfall, things have been really hard; the pub across the road are about £500 a week down, I know newsagents who are about £1,000 a week down. Some of the businesses I know are 80 or 90 per cent down.”

Chichester District Council have set £300,000 aside to keep ailing businesses afloat, but, for business owners like Sarah Norgon, that’s barely a drop in the bucket.

"It’s not enough when you think about how long it’s been going on, and how long it’s likely to continue,” she said. “There’s still a big due process that has to take place and we don’t know how long it will take and, in the meantime, we continue to be gravely effected.”

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