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news
Pure Drop pub owner claims cycle lane works hurting business on Wimborne Road East (Google Street View/Dorset Council)“It will completely destroy everything”: Pub owner claims controversial cycle lane construction is costing her business “£5,000 a week”, month after bike lane also blamed for “awful” chippy’s demise
The ongoing controversy surrounding the construction of a cycle lane in Ferndown – which has been the subject of online misinformation and blamed by a fish and chip shop owner for the takeaway’s demise, despite its “awful” ratings – continues this week, as a publican claimed the works are costing her business £5,000 a week and placing the pub in “survival mode” due to a lack of customers.
Frances Brabant, the owner of the Pure Dop pub on Wimborne Road East, where the final section of 4.3 miles worth of cycling infrastructure is currently being built in the Dorset town, has complained to the local authority about the works, claiming customers are being driven away and that previously agreed plans to minimise disruption for deliveries have not been adhered to.
However, Dorset Council have responded to the publican’s complaints by claiming that she only “recently” engaged with the local authority about the works and that the lane’s resurfacing programme was brought forward to reduce its impact on the pub’s Bank Holiday business.
The subject of much acrimony in recent weeks and months, the new two-mile cycle lane on Wimborne Road East in Ferndown, the first part of which was branded “Britain’s biggest bike lane” by the Daily Mail, forms part of Dorset Council’s plan to create “a safe, sustainable transport link between residential areas, local schools, and centres of employment” in the area.
Once complete, the road will feature 4.3 miles of “uninterrupted accessibility improvements” from Wimborne to Trickett’s Cross, linking residential areas with Dorset’s largest employment area, while also adding another section to the active travel route that connects Ferndown, Wimborne, and Poole.
However, the scheme has attracted the ire of some disgruntled residents and business owners, who have branded this final section, expected to cost £7.9m and funded by Active Travel England, as a “waste of money”.
Some locals opposed to the scheme have also been accused of “spreading misinformation” after unfounded rumours emerged on social media claiming that several trees will be cut down during a future phase of construction, allegations dismissed by the council as “factually incorrect and negative”.
And last month, the former owner of Ferndown Fish & Chips blamed the construction of the cycle lane for his takeaway closing, claiming it hit his business takings by 40 per cent – despite the council pointing out that the specific phase of works highlighted by the owner was completed last year, while others suggested the multiple negative reviews online could also be a factor behind the chippy’s demise.
Now, Pure Drop pub’s owner Frances Brabant is the latest local businessperson to join the chorus of condemnation against the Wimborne Road East cycling infrastructure, claiming the latest construction works, which began in July, have put the pub in “survival mode”.
“It will completely destroy everything and bring us back a year and a half in progress,” Brabant told the Daily Echo.
“We’ll be back to square one where I started two years ago and I had to build this business up. I care about my community, I care about my team and my pub, and we’re not able to provide for our customers.”
Brabant said she was first made aware of the works in January, but was only approached by contractors two weeks before construction began on 1 July, when she organised times to enable deliveries to be made to the pub.
However, Brabant claims this arrangement hasn’t been adhered to since the works started last month.
“The first Monday they started one of my colleagues was coming into work and they wouldn’t let her in,” she said.
“I had phone calls from all the delivery drivers saying they couldn’t get here because the road was closed.”
The publican added that Dorset Council is yet to offer Pure Drop tax breaks or compensation for the apparent lost profit.
However, in response to Brabant’s complaints, a spokesperson for Dorset Council said: “The landlord of the Pure Drop has only recently engaged with us, raising concerns about access during the bank holiday weekend.
“To accommodate concerns raised by the landlord about our resurfacing work at the end of August, we brought forward our surfacing programme to reduce the impact on the Friday night of the August bank holiday weekend.
“Signage was also erected from the start of construction specifically telling patrons of the pub that it is open as usual during the works.”
The local authority added that the work outside the pub is expected to be completed by “the end of the school summer holidays”, and that the requirement for compensation is set out in national government legislation.
As noted above, Pure Drop isn’t the first business in Ferndown supposedly impacted by the cycle lane’s construction.
Last month, we reported that Tony Doyle, the owner of Ferndown Fish & Chips, also located on Wimborne Road East, claimed to have enjoyed 11 months of good business since opening the chippy in May 2022, but was hit with a 40 per cent reduction in takings once construction began on the cycle route nearby, which he said led to locals “avoiding it like the plague”.
While some locals had sympathy for the chippy owner’s business woes, others questioned some of his claims, with one Ferndown resident noting on Facebook that there is “no need to blame the cycle lanes when a quick look online reveals some awful reviews for this place!”
Meanwhile, Dorset Council responded to Doyle’s complaints by clarifying that the roadworks in question “finished in November last year” and “at no point was the road fully closed excluding three non-consecutive week-long periods for overnight works starting at 8pm, with only one lane closure, traffic management in place at all times, and numerous routes available for customers to reach the premises”.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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36 comments
It's well know that cyclists are hair shirt wearing tofu eater who would run a mile rather than drink a beer.
oh!
She's not complaining about the cycle lane being created, she's complaining that the banksman of works is not following protocol to allow access to the pub.
".....the Pure Dop pub....."
I did wonder about that when I read it.
This furore reminds me of the College Green cycle path in Bristol, which the local press featured heavily, with pictures of local business men standing in it with their hands raised in a stop signal, claiming that their businesses would be ruined. That was something like thirty years ago and local businesses are thriving.
AFAIK, every time that locals complain that a cycle route will close their businesses, they actually do better, but hey, let's not confuse prejudice with facts.
The station cafe at Warmley was poorly run and got little business, closing early as there was no custom.
New owner with vision opened for longer hours did proper cakes and decent coffee and had to increase seating as they were always maxed out.
If the product and service is poor then the impact of a small amount of hassle will be significant,
When on push bike or motorbike I always will make efforts to get to good cakes and coffee.
Don't alienate potential customers.
Not to recommend drunk cycling, but having a nice gentle bike ride along a segregated path to the pub and back sounds like a lovely evening out. A pub next to a recent segregated cycle path alongside the A27 in Sussex cut a gap in their hedge and put up signs saying "Cyclists welcome" and installed bike racks.
Where is this?
Biergarten tours in Munich🍻
Radler/Shandy
Radlers have their roots in cycling folklore, in fact radler means cyclist in a southern German dialect. In its simplest form, a radler beer is a Bavarian beer mixture consisting of 50% German light lager and 50% sparkling lemonade. The traditional radler is mixed with Munich Helles and Zitronenlimonade. This results in a light refreshing drink with serious tart citrus undertones. Radlers have evolved over time, subsequently there are a whole new family of radler flavours to explore.
The story goes that back in the 1920s there was a boom in recreational cycling. To cater for these thirsty cyclists, inn keeper, Franz Kugler, created a trail that lead from Munich, via the woods to his inn in Deisenhofen. The route proved to be very popular and one hot day in June 1922, overwhelmed by 13,000 thirsty cyclists, the unthinkable happened; he was running out of beer… In a flash of brilliance, Franz blended the remaining beer with lemon soda and the radler was born. As well as being a great refreshing beer, it was low in alcohol thus keeping more cyclists safely on their bikes!
Capitalism, innit? Deal with it.
That's an odd take on the effect of a public body spending taxpayers' money on public works which will be free to use.
Free houses don't mean you don't pay...
Free Willy doesn't mean that you don't...
It's not surprising the landlady is unhappy: The place looks like a motorway services or "drive in pub" (McPub?). The house is nice, the inside is nice enough - but the pub is just located on the center of a HUGE car-park - not a place to go to for its beauty. (Google maps)
The bike-lane, however, seems like a great opportunity for also attracting non-drivers in the future, people who might have more than half a pint, people who might enjoy cycling, people who might just go there because it's a nice and happy neighbourhood-pub, bringing family and meeting friends. In general, a more affluent crowd from the community. (These changes would probably require to cover some of the car-park with gravel, lawn, plants, bike-stands, beer-benches, swings or other "subversive" non-tarmac surfacing, though...)
Hint to owner: Providing save bike storage and cakes at the right time might even turn this into a favourite of local cycling clubs - just invite them and put up some black-and-white pictures of Eddy Merckx. (No, that's not the same as Jacky Ickx...)
She isn't, yet, complaining about the proposed bike lane. She's complaining about the construction of it, which is leading to roads to the pub having "Road Closed" signs put up, for the past 2months, that's prevented deliveries, staff and patrons accessing the pub by car.
It might be worth reminding the pub owner about drink drive laws.
"However, the scheme has attracted the ire of some disgruntled residents and business owners, who have branded this final section, expected to cost £7.9m and funded by Active Travel England, as a “waste of money”."
Which actually means 'money that is spent on something that I won't use'.
I've never entirely understood why the landlords of pubs think that they are so dependent upon people driving motor vehicles to and from their premises…
Surely they'd sell more alcohol if people didn't have to worry about avoiding alcohol so they could drive home
The reality is alot of pubs simply wouldn't exist anymore if people didn't or couldn't drive to them. Not everyone drinks alcohol anymore, designated drivers anyone ?, but still appreciate social occasions with others in a pub setting.
And a pub like that is not wet led, it's a pub that sells and makes more money from food and does the beer/wine part on the side.
Even if no one drinking there could drive to it, how does it get deliveries ?delivered by the truck load, by cargo bike from the brewery, the one in Wolverhampton ?
Several sides here, because the council is essentially saying "we tried to engage with them and (head in the sand / over my dead business etc.)"
Then there's the "they wouldn't deliver because (signs)" which again doesn't quite sit with the council's account. And I'm pretty sure I've seen delivery trucks having to make awkward exits because "nobody told me" - despite plenty signs...
Not saying that the council's account is not to be challenged. Even at best stuff gets delayed. And there can be cock up and miscommunication meaning that things agreed aren't always adhered to. And in some cases apparently "sod those in the way" - ask businesses down Leith Walk in Edinburgh...
But (at least in my city) there are works going on, sometimes lasting months rather than weeks, every single day. It can be road maintenance / improvement (what this story is about) but often is utilities and a fair bit of "private development". Nobody wants this to affect them but overall I think people understand that this is part of the cost of not having to build and maintain your own roads.
Could it be another case of that intolerable combo of "disruption" plus "cycling"?
Impression I get on some of it is also that the council tell them the work was being done. Which is basically its obligations for organising deliveries + any access requirements dealt with. Having been told that works are being done afaik it is the responsibility of the pub operator here to contact the council to ensure/check adequate access (inc for deliveries) is available.
That the contractors realised they would need more access than normal and contacted them is someone going above and beyond - why would someone repairing a road know anything about delivery requirements for a pub...
The permit to do the work would state access to the business is required and that enough space is provided.
The point you're really raising is why do the people doing the work care, especially if the council aren't keeping tabs on it.
And the delivery drivers, who are on a schedule much like home delivery drivers, might see a road closed sign and file it in the failed delivery not going to even bother to try that one as it wrecks the schedule for all their other deliveries
If they're like most councils, they aren't monitoring the works that closely a road closed with access to businesses, quickly becomes road blocked cos its easier for the contractors to dump their equipment and vans in the way for their convenience.
There's a pub few miles from me, had the road leading to their car park dug up for 3 weeks (so far) by utilities companies. Road closed signs all over the place, barriers, bollards blocking the road. Yet they're supposed to be allowing access to the pub and through access for cyclists & pedestrians.
The pub car park, which would normally be full on a lunch time this time of year had 3 cars, 2 were probably staffs, and the pub was basically empty because no one thought they could get to it, so they went elsewhere.
True - we have all kind of issues with councils not monitoring / following up. There will be multiple reasons - but "our funding has decreased over the last decade or so by 50%" is likely a part of it.
This is most likely the issue. It might seem obvious that the council checks up on contractors, and it would IMO be a good use of their time to ensure disruption is minimised, in reality if councils have avoided redundancies they will not be replacing staff when they leave or retire, and this is the sort of activity that is squeezed out when schedules become overloaded. And unfortunately once the contractors realise this, the temptation to cut a few corners becomes irresistable.
However, I also think some people are entirely unrealistic about some disruption being an inevitable part of living in a community where roads get repaired. People love to complain about construction work that bothers them, forgetting that once upon a time the house they are living in was built and someone was probably annoyed by that.
It also seems to be the standard response to any such inconvenience for businesses to go onto Facebook and complain about it. Complaining gets more traction than simply saying 'there's roadworks, but we are still open'. Extra traction for complaining about the incomptent council, and it's amplified further if you can include something about a cycle lane which will get the usual suspects frothing.
"Ooh, that pub looks good, shall we go there?"
"No, that bike lane makes it more difficult to get to, let's go somewhere else"
Said no-one, ever.
Reading the article, the publican doesn't seem to be complaining about the bike lane as such, more about the disruption caused by the roadworks to construct it and the effect this has on her takings.
Which makes it even more bizarre as I would rather have a smooth road free from potholes to drive along and make the place look less like a run down shithole. If the places around it looks nice it would no doubt attract more custom.
The x weeks of roadworks, access restrictions and road closures are the immediate concerns. No point in counting future possible increased takings from an improved environment if the business goes bust because noone can access the pub during the roadworks.
Shouldn't be drinking and driving anyway. If this pubs only revenue comes from people that have to drive to it, it's questionable whether it should be promoting drinking and driving.
If a family or group of friends go then one can be the designated driver and stick to 0% alcohol beers - which are actually quite good these days - or other soft drinks. Many, if not most, pubs these days can't rely on just the trade from people within walking distance as the days of the local are fast disappearing. People understandably like a bit of variety in where they eat and drink these days.
Is that really the best you can do? I NEVER drink and drive as my job brings me into direct contact with the consequences but I do drive to the pub for a family meal out and I will drive to the pub and stick to soft drinks when I am the designated driver. There are thousands like me. It's a bit of an insult really, saying everyone who drives to the pub is a drink driver, or that every pub with a car park is promoting drink driving.
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