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A mother and daughter who run a Gloucestershire pub have expressed their frustration at the lack of notice and no consideration for their business due to roadworks scheduled on the main road through their village. Fi and Becky Hall have had the tenancy of the Golden Ball in Lower Swell for 11 months
Now they feel “mentally drained” and “frustrated” at work being carried out on the B4068 between Cheltenham and Stow-on-the-Wold. The work to repair a bridge over the River Dikler has lasted a month between October 9 and November 10 and according to Swell Parish Council it was also delayed.
While the work is set to come to its scheduled completion today, to make matters worse more roadworks are planned next week during daylight hours to cut back trees on the B4068 in a bid to save them from ash dieback. Fi said that 70 per cent of their Cotswold pub’s trade has been lost.
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The pub has had to close three to four days per week while regulars in Lower Swell have had to go without their service. One additional consequence of the roadworks has meant staff members living in nearby communities who don’t drive could not get to work on time, hence the reduced opening times.
“We’ve had no apology,” Fi said. “We received a letter on the Saturday before it was due to close (October 9) and we should have had 28 days’ notice which we didn’t. I’m upset because this should be a busy time of year and we’ve had people ringing up for bookings and we’ve said there’s no guarantee that we’ll be open.”
Having to request a sign to say the pub was open for business at weekends, a lack of signage for a diversion has been one problem too with one villager telling Gloucestershire Live that “signage has been really poor”. Daughter Becky echoes this further by saying that a bus route connecting Stow and nearby villages wasn’t even made aware of the shortest diversion through a “nightmare road” at Upper Swell, impacting staff getting to their pub.
“The bus originally went through Bourton to get here, which was adding an extra half an hour to journeys and costing more petrol,” Becky said. “It’s worrying for our staff because they see this is causing us as a business to struggle and it has a knock-on effect for them feeling as though they’re letting us down, which they’re not.”
Becky adds: “We’re just unhappy with the lack of thought and essentially we are the only business impacted by this. To be told that we cannot get compensation is also bad.”
Helena Amey, vice-chairperson at Swell Parish Council said: “These roadworks have been quite a surprise to us and there was not a lot of notice as we were notified of the week’s delay to the works on September 28 but the road signs were not changed. We sympathise with the Golden Ball because passing traffic has been negligible and villages have been offering their support.”
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council said: “We have had to close a section of the B4068 Lower Swell Road for urgent bridge repairs, following an inspection by our structures team. These repairs are needed to ensure the safety of the public using the bridge and we plan to complete these by the end of this week.”
They added that “a diversion is in place and signs have been installed to remind the public that businesses remain open as usual. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to residents and businesses in the area and will reopen the road as soon as possible.
“Following the completion of the bridge repairs, there will be Ash Dieback works undertaken from Monday November 13. There will be a further road closure to the west of the village from 9.30am to 3.30pm on weekdays for one week.”
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