Business owners call for Bridge Street in Northampton to be cleaned up and reopened following massive fire

Business owners have called for a busy street in Northampton to partially reopen and be cleaned up following a massive fire that ripped through a former nightclub.

West Northants Council (WNC) said on Wednesday (September 6) that, due to its condition following a massive fire on August 22, the former Balloon Bar in Bridge Street will be demolished and that Bridge Street will be closed to traffic for the ‘foreseeable future’.

Following that announcement, this newspaper went down and spoke to business owners on the street to get their reaction.

Jamie McGowan, area manager at Playhouse, said: “The street was closed to all vehicles and pedestrians in the first week of closure, so that affected us massively. We couldn’t get into the bar, couldn’t trade at all. On top of that, we couldn’t take deliveries, so we had to turn them away. We were 20 per cent down in that first week, this week we’ve been 30 per cent down. There’s just no footfall now.

"Even though the street has been reopened to pedestrians, the big red barriers at either end of the street make it look like the whole road is closed to traffic and pedestrians. It’s not good. We want to get back to normal trading and it’s still no way near that.

“The worrying bit about the announcement is there is no timescale to the road closure and when the street might reopen. The reality is this street is used by a lot of traffic and there won’t be any taxi drop-offs now and that’s going to cause a problem at the weekends. I think there is enough space to cordon off that area and allow traffic half way up Bridge Street."

Jamie wanted to emphasise that Bridge Street is still open to pedestrians.

Danielle Lesley, owner at CI Aesthetics, is frustrated with the state of the road since it closed.

She said: “The street and bins aren’t being cleaned. It just looks awful. It’s like it’s the forgotten street in Northampton. It’s been nearly two weeks since they’ve collected the bins. There’s been piles of rubbish bags full of maggots, flies, rats and the smell was just disgusting. We’re having to contact the council to clean the street bins which are overflowing. I’ve been having to get a dustbin and gloves myself and pick up the rubbish and so are other business owners. We shouldn't be doing this when we pay our council tax.

"Business wise, the girls have been suffering, they’ve been a bit quieter, people are turning up late because they can’t park outside and didn’t know about the situation.

Asked what she would like to see happen, Danielle said: “I’d like to see the road swept, some of the road should be open at the bottom end and the bins need cleaning. Not happy at all.”

WNC has been contacted for comment.