Cafe owner blames closure on Brexit and cost of living crisis, but mainly bike lane for "nightmare" 50% loss of sales

A north London cafe and deli owner set to close her business after nine years has blamed a major cycle lane project and says sales halved since it was installed as taxi drivers stopped visiting because they had nowhere to park. 

The infrastructure on Seven Sisters Road was installed last year, Transport for London introducing Cycleway 50 in reaction to a concerning safety picture on the route that saw more than 80 cyclists and pedestrians injured in road traffic collisions between June 2017 and June 2020. Providing "safe, segregated space for cyclists" the route also gives "more room to pedestrians" between Finsbury Park and Nags Head, with the next section further along currently under construction by Islington Council.

As part of the scheme, on-street parking was removed to make space for the cycle lane running parallel to the row of shops where Girasole cafe and deli was (seen below in a video shared on social media by the Tufnell Park Cycles campaign).

Preview of protected cycle lane on Seven Sisters Road / Nags Head Gyratory from Thane Villas to Isledon Road (Route unfinished & not yet officially opened) #CycleWay50 #Islington pic.twitter.com/pJBhPHxMp2

— Tufnell Park Cycles (@TPC2S) November 7, 2023

Its owner Eglal Gomaa told the Islington Tribune that the infrastructure slashed her sales in half as there was now nowhere for customers to park, meaning she lost business from 20 taxi drivers, amounting to "almost three grand a month". On top of that, she says delivery drivers refused to stop on the road at busy times which impacted their ability to do events catering as they were reliant on Uber drivers to transport stock.

However, she did also admit that a 12 per cent hike in the price of Italian-imported goods following Brexit and the cost of living crisis hitting customers' spending habits had also contributed.

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"It was my dream, but it just became a nightmare," she told the local press. "I can't take all the blame. The council should have challenged Transport for London about all of this. I lost 20 taxi drivers that were coming into my business every day. Overall, that was almost three grand a month."

Islington Council's environment lead, Rowena Champion, commented: "We're determined to create a greener, healthier Islington and play our part to tackle the climate emergency. That's why we've been working with Transport for London on Cycleway 50, which will make it easier for local people to switch to environmentally friendly modes of transport like walking or cycling.

"The council has supported Transport for London with their engagement with local communities, local business groups and individual businesses and we have also lobbied to introduce additional measures which support local people and businesses to benefit from the scheme."

Transport for London noted that the scheme could have "huge health and wellbeing benefits" for cycling and walking, adding that "if more people walked, cycled or used public transport in London, there would be less congestion and our air would be cleaner".

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Commenting ahead of the project, a section of TfL's website titled "The purpose of Cycleway 50" explained: "There are currently no cycling facilities at Nags Head or links into any existing cycle routes, making it difficult for people to make longer trips by bike. By creating segregated spaces to cycle and connecting it to other cycle routes, we hope to encourage more people to give cycling a try.

"We also must improve road safety. Between June 2017 and June 2020, there were a total of 210 people injured in road collisions around the Nags Head gyratory. Of these, 31 casualties were cyclists and 54 were pedestrians."