Botley bypass: Pinkmead Bistro café owner fears for future after May half-term road closure cost her thousands - anger at Hampshire County Council
A café owner is worried about her business after a 10-day road closure
An independent business owner fears for the future after a 10-day road closure cost her thousands of pounds.
Hend Elhouni, owner of Pinkmead Bistro and Tearooms, said the prolonged closure for ongoing works on the Botley Bypass had a detrimental effect on the popular cafe.
She said she has dealt with several road closures and diversions in her five years at the helm, but none with this kind of impact.
The A334 and A3051 in Botley were shut to motorists for 10 days over the May half-term, a time that would usually bring hundreds of customers to the café at Pinkmead Farm.
Hend said that poor signage and the 20-mile diversion pushed customers away from her business.
“We are a good business, but people are not going to go through the wars simply to visit us”, she said.
Now, in the aftermath of the closure, Hend is calling on the council to communicate such plans with businesses like hers directly in the future.
She said: “We have done everything we can to make this a successful business, and for us to get hit so hard like that for something that was out of our control, it seems wrong. The council should have thought of us, and the businesses here, and we should not just accept this.
“I don’t know if we are going to survive long enough to see the benefits of the bypass when it is complete.”
Although the exact figure is yet to be calculated, the café lost thousands of pounds as a result.
Hend said the council should compensate businesses when they are directly impacted by such works.
She said: “I lost thousands in one week, but the expenses are still there – rent, wages, electricity bill, tax, and business rates. I am still having to pay whether we have customers or not.
“I have been told there is no way of securing compensation from the council, which is totally wrong. I expect there to be quiet days for the business, but this caused a significant loss.”
Hend is hopeful a solution will be found and is urging the council to have a “sense of urgency” when undertaking these works.
She added: “We are going strong and this is not going to stop us.”
Hampshire County Council said the recent roadworks were needed to link the new bypass with the existing road network, and insisted disruption had been kept to a minimum.
A spokesperson said most of the project had been completed without closures, but this phase required temporary road shuttings to be carried out safely.
They added that businesses were given advance notice and remained open, with signage and diversions in place.
The council said it would continue working with the local community and try to limit disruption, adding: “We recognise this work can cause temporary disruption and will continue to minimise this as far as possible.”