Northampton town centre car park increases slammed as ‘slap in the face’ by ‘angry’ business owner

The proposed scrapping of free Northampton town centre car parking on weekends has been slammed as a “slap in the face” by an “angry” business owner.

Julie Teckman, the owner of Vintage Guru in St Giles’ Street, is the next to condemn West Northamptonshire Council’s plans and “cannot understand where they are coming from”.

The business owner, who has been operating in the town centre for four years, said: “We’re very busy on weekends and the council doesn’t realise how many people actually visit.

“We only hear of negativity surrounding the town centre and it’s time they spoke to the shoppers themselves. There’s no sense in putting car parking charges up.”

Julie praised the words of Chronicle & Echo editor David Summers in the opening of this newspaper’s campaign, and reiterated “businesses will not survive”.

“Most businesses are finding ways around the energy bill hikes,” said Julie. “But if people won’t come into the town – and why should they when they can go elsewhere for free – we will lose even more businesses.”

The Vintage Guru team likes to think their customer base would stick by them if the car parking charges do go up, but they are not naive to the fact people will think twice.

Julie said: “Our customers will be angry they’re being used as a cash cow, again.

“It’s also unbelievably disrespectful to the businesses who have invested so much in improving the town centre.

“This is an easy way to make more money, but a real slap in the face for those who have worked so hard.”

Vintage Guru does “really good trade” on a Sunday when free parking is available and Julie believes the council is unaware of how many people make the most of that offering.

The shop also had a successful festive period and wants it to continue, which will be difficult if the proposed increases are implemented.

Only recently, Julie spoke to one of the independent traders at Rushden Lakes, who admitted they would not hesitate to take on a shop in St Giles’ Street if it was not for the price of parking in Northampton town centre.

It is not only the customers who will take the brunt of this, but staff too. Some Vintage Guru employees pay nearly £7 per day to park at work, which is around one-tenth of their daily pay.

“There’s no logic to this plan and it’s a cynical way to make money,” added Julie. “We’ve tried not to be negative as we’re proud to be a town centre business.

“We wouldn’t want to be located anywhere else, but can make no sense of giving people another reason to not come into the town centre.”

When Vintage Guru first opened in 2018, they made the deliberate decision to open until 7pm as the parking charges only applied until 6pm – giving customers the chance to shop for free.

After months of that, the council changed the parking charges to apply until 7pm each evening.

Getting behind Wesley Suter’s petition, Julie said: “Businesses need each other to survive and we won’t be successful if we don’t work together.

“It’s painful to watch so many businesses closing at the moment.”

To visit and sign the petition before it is too late, click here – and you can find out more about West Northamptonshire Council’s plans here.