FUMING locals claim overrunning roadworks have left them thousands of pounds out of pocket and are “murdering” their businesses.
The scheme is tearing up Oldham Road in Ancoats, Manchester, where work to install cycle lanes and new pedestrian crossings has dragged on far beyond its original deadline.
Residents are equally fed up[/caption]
It began back in February and was meant to finish by April.
But the end date has now been pushed back time and again, first July, then September, and now winter 2025.
Crews are even working through the night, from 8.30pm until 5.30am, as they scramble to make up for lost time.
Local traders say the disruption has wrecked trade, cut off passing customers and left them counting the cost.
One barber has decided he simply cannot carry on.
Jimmy Kennedy, 67, opened Kutters barbers on February 8, 1982 — and had planned to retire next spring.
But he now says he will close for good on September 27, six months earlier than planned, after racking up £7,000 in losses.
“I’m getting older, I was going to go until next year but I cannot fight this. I will lose the battle,” he said.
“I asked if there’s any compensation because I’ve lost £7,000 in five months compared to last year.
“I’m doing nothing here, there’s no passing trade.
“Clients are moaning there’s no public transport because there’s no bus stop open here, they have to get off at Butler Street or Oldham Street.”
Jimmy added: “I’ve got a friend, I’ve been cutting his hair for 30 years and he said to me last week he’s not coming in anymore because he came twice and could not get parked.
“You cannot put a business in the middle of a building site for 33 weeks and not know the end of it.”
The lifelong barber used to open at 5.45am to catch workers finishing night shifts, but says trade has now dried up completely.
He added: “I was going to go out anyway but to make the area like this, every day is like Sunday.
“We’ve had no help. They have told me there’s no compensation scheme at all. It’s got very very hard.”
Another barber, Ernest Armakpado, owner of Headmaster, blasted the delays.
“The biggest issue is if we had been given a plan saying it would be four or five months, we could have planned for it,” he said.
“But the deadline is missed so you cannot plan,” he told the Manchester Evening News.
It’s not just barbers feeling the squeeze.
Bar P3 Annihilation Eve, opposite Kutters, has also been hit hard after losing its outdoor seating area to make way for a “rain garden”.
Owner Helen Collett said: “We have lost the summer of the outside seating.
“We were instantly losing money because we could not have people outside. It’s been a real struggle. We have lost thousands.”
Helen even tried to turn the disruption into a photo opportunity — staging a cocktail shoot on the site.
She said: “We got our staff drinking the staff cocktails in the space. It was half creative, but we were also trapped essentially.”
But she says night-time construction has left customers furious.
“The noise is absolutely horrific,” she said.
Residents are equally fed up.
Local man Dominic Pritchard says the racket from overnight works even ended his relationship.
“My boyfriend moved out because he is a nurse working nights, so every day he came home in the day and was not able to sleep. That caused the end of our relationship,” he said.
“These two weeks are crazy. The noise, it’s insane. It’s totally mental.”
Manchester council has defended the scheme, saying it will bring long-term benefits.
A spokesperson said: “We of course have sympathy for anyone who has been disrupted by the ongoing works on Oldham Road.
“This is an extensive scheme intended to benefit both residents and businesses by improving walking and cycling provision in the north of the city, as well as making it easier to access local civic centres, public transport and links to other parts of Manchester.
“The contractor has engaged extensively with residents and businesses and done everything in their power to keep people informed on their progress.
“However, with any major infrastructure project there can be unavoidable delays.
Local man Dominic Pritchard says the racket from overnight works even ended his relationship[/caption]