Gateshead Flyover: Businesses fear closure crisis risks killing off high street

The A167 flyover, which previously carried up to 40,000 vehicles every day, has been shut to all traffic since mid-December due to worries that it could collapse and it is now set to be demolished without ever reopening.

Nearby shops and restaurants on Gateshead High Street are now pleading with council chiefs to give them more support to ensure they can survive the disruption, which they say has led people to avoid the area and only worsened an already difficult trading environment. 

Gateshead Council has said that work to tear down the flyover could take a year, though details about that demolition and its cost are yet to be confirmed.

The Government is also coming under pressure to help pay for a wider regeneration of the town centre once the bypass is gone, with hopes that its removal could at last usher in the arrival of new homes and jobs.

But, with uncertainty continuing to surround the highway situation, local independent businesses say they simply cannot wait for a long-term redevelopment that has been talked about since 2008 to finally come to fruition.

Antonio Pili told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) his Italian restaurant, Sapori, had suffered badly since opening last year as a result of significant travel disruption in central Tyneside.

He said: “We have had the Tyne Bridge works, the flyover, Metro closures. It has been absolutely awful for the last few months, it is shambolic.

“People here put their heart and soul into their business. I am not McDonald’s, I am not Costa. I am a private individual who has spent £150,000 trying to create a business that will support this high street. But we are struggling to make a living and it seems like we have everything against us, but nobody wants to listen.”

Antonio, who previously worked as a driving instructor before going into the hospitality trade, has called for the council to open up the bus lane at the bottom of the high street to encourage more people to use it as an alternative route between Gateshead and Newcastle.

He added: “We have seen a loss in trade. I can’t quantify it, but they say that 40,000 cars used to go over the flyover every day and that is the number of people who are now having to take a different route.

“The bottom line for me is that this street has a bus lane at the end of it which could be opened to all traffic and bring more people through here. That could have a huge financial impact for us.

“If you close a road that takes 40,000 vehicles a day and you don’t open any other routes for people to use, then they will just avoid the area. I know I would. People need to find it easier to reach us and all the other businesses here.”

Helen Redfern, of the Green Heart preloved fashion store, said that the flyover closure could not be blamed as the sole cause of the high street’s woes.

But she urged Gateshead Council to support traders with more advertising directing town centre shoppers to the area, cheaper parking, and by making the street more attractive.

Helen, whose eco-friendly shop has opened a haberdashery and is considering setting up a cafe to attract more customers, told the LDRS: “The council needs to be supporting businesses that are already here. It is all well and good having long-term thinking, but the businesses that are here now will not be here going forward unless something can be done to support us now and halt what is happening.

“There are some great things happening in Gateshead town centre and that is why we came here, we wanted to be part of a regeneration of the high street. When I came and looked at this unit I thought there was so much potential. There are a lot of willing people here who want to make it a better area, but they keep hitting up against obstacles.”

A new phase of strengthening works to reinforce two of the flyover’s concrete pillars began this week and it is hoped that it will allow for the re-opening of the Sunderland Road bus and cycle lane which runs beneath the flyover.

The council has said that congestion levels are “not far off normal around our town centre roads”, but Helen told the LDRS that traffic coming in from Lobley Hill had been “horrific”.

Farah Sadeghi, who runs the Vape Lounge shop,  added: “It has definitely affected us. It was busier here before, now people aren’t travelling the same way. The high street is too quiet and I don’t know why more hasn’t been done to improve it.

“There is another vape shop that was allowed to open right opposite me – it’s not good for me, or for them, or for the street. In Newcastle it feels like the town is looked after more and business is better.

“I used to have customers coming in from Newcastle but that has stopped recently, maybe because of the flyover situation.”

The council said this week that it has already spent “well over £1 million” since the flyover’s sudden closure, including on emergency propping works that allowed Metro services to resume in the tunnels beneath the 1960s structure after a suspension either side of Christmas.

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Martin Gannon, the council’s Labour leader, added: “We know it must be frustrating for town centre businesses, to have uncertainty around road transport, but we can assure them departments across the council are working hard to bring plans forward rapidly.

“Our data shows traffic levels are not far off normal around our town centre roads, and we do have a town centre manager working to support businesses and market the centre

“A high number of town centre visitors arrive by public transport – both Metro and buses, so it’s important we help public transport run smoothly too.”