WITH the repaving of Stroud High Street finished, traders have expressed mixed reactions about the extent to which the work disrupted their sales.

Repaving of the bottom of the High Street, between King Street and Kendrick Street, carried out by Gloucestershire County Council and highways partner Amey, began on Monday, March 21.

During the three-month period, all loading traffic went in and out of the High Street via Kendrick Street.

Stroud News and Journal:

While many people have welcomed the new-look High Street, one disgruntled Facebook user has set up a page called Stroudies Against The Poo-Coloured High Street 

Simon Vincent, who runs Trading Post Records in Kendrick Street, has seen his sales drop by half.

“Trade was very much affected by the works, reducing it by about 50 per cent,” he said. “It hasn’t picked up since the roadworks have been completed.

“I think it’s a question of people getting used to not coming into Stroud and it’s going to be very difficult to get them back into the habit of coming into town.”

In the High Street, owner of cafe The Socialight Kelly Pitt saw daily losses because of the works.

She said: “I lost every day because of it, I just hope that the council will maintain it.

“I wish they’d done it at night but I know there are more costs involved. It was good in that they finished on time.”

Across the road, Karen Jordan, manager of the newsagents McColl’s, also said business had been subdued.

“It was pretty bad, at one stage when they were doing the brickwork nobody could get in or out of my shop for about 20 minutes,” she said.

“It made business quiet, especially when they blocked each side of the road off. Some of our old customers couldn’t get to us.

“I think they went about it at the wrong time.”

“Winter will tell if it was worth it,” she added, indicating that if the tarmac is good-quality it would not break up in the colder months.

But Paul Bessant, from movie rental store Film Fanatic, also in the High Street, said that his sales figures were not impacted to the same extent.

“Sales did drop slightly but a lot of it was because the alley was closed off,” he said.

“The colour could be different.

“It’s going to end up looking like the top of the High Street, when it needs to be repaired it’ll get patchy.”

In King Street, it is a different story for Julia Trow, manager of charity shop Oxfam. “It hasn’t really affected us much beyond the dust and noise,” she said.

And at the top of the High Street, beyond where the roadworks went on, traders have not noticed any impact on customer footfall.

In fact, manager of gift shop Moonflower Juliet Farrington said: “We’ve had a good May and June. Moonflower Too below us on the High Street was a little bit affected, though.

“It’s good, it looks nice, I’m not quite sure about the colour but it might fade.”

Sid Copp, owner of clothes shop Eclipse, added: “I’m very happy, I think it looks nice, it’s very European.”

Daniel Tiffney, Gloucestershire County Council highways manager, said the work was done in three phases to minimise the impact on traders.