Business in Pepper Street, Newcastle under Lyme will hopefully soon see welcomed trade returning after successfully closing the street to to vehicles – allowing access only for pedestrians.
It will allow businesses such as The Lymestone Vaults and Wellers to make use of the outside space safely and ensure their customer an enjoyable visit.
If the weather allows the businesses will jointly have live acoustic music outside over the bank holiday weekend too.
Food can be obtained from Amore as a takeout to be eaten outside while enjoying drinks from both Wellers and Lymestone Vaults.
This will complement the Governments new Pavement Licence. The temporary pavement licences process introduces a streamlined consent route to allow businesses to obtain a licence to place temporary furniture, such as tables and chairs outside of cafes, bars and restaurants quickly, and for no more than £100.
This is welcome news for the traders….
Viv Bradford from Lymestone Vaults commented “We are pleased to have the backing of both the County Council and the Borough Council in our planning applications. The Vaults, Amore and Wellers have lost 50% of their seats due to the Covid changes, meaning their income has been massively reduced. The use of the pavement may allow us to recoup some of that loss of seating, and allow our customers to sit outside where they feel more comfortable. We hope that everyone in Newcastle will get get behind this application and support local business.”
Cassie Alfano from Amore Italian said “This is fantastic news for ourselves at Amore and our neighbours at Lymestone Vaults and Wellers. The road being closed to through traffic is brilliant, and we’re looking forward to the “piazza” feel an outdoor seating area will provide. We’re hoping to provide fresh, handcrafted take-out food to anyone using the area which should help give us a boost as we’re currently operating at reduced capacity. We’ve often used the hashtag #artisanalley for Pepper Street, as it’s lovely to have such great local products all in one street, so look out for that along with #pepperstreetparty on our socials to keep in touch with all that’s going on”
Andrea Wealleans from Wellers commented ‘This is wonderful news for all of our businesses on Pepper Street. I personally couldn’t see how we could open in a safe and secure way while also making the business work, but this now means that people can have a drink from Wellers or Lymestones Vaults and eat a takeaway meal from Amore at the same time, all in a completely safe environment in the open air. I know that my customers will be pleased about this too as they have been supporting me with this from the very beginning. Thanks to everyone who have helped us achieve this’
The road closure has been hugely supported by the BID in Newcastle under Lyme. Amy Williams, BID Manager said ‘This is a very welcome piece of news for the businesses in Pepper Street, we are pleased that both the Borough Council and County Council supported this closure and I am over the moon they will now get to use the outside space to welcome their customers back, hopefully with a few more weeks of good weather this will give them the much needed boost in trade they need at this time’
