Restaurants frustrated by marathon road closures

Mishka and Pavol Ciba own Spago Creperia, which missed out on business due to road closures

Restaurant owners have expressed their frustration after road closures meant they lost out on business on Mother's Day.

Mishka Ciba, who owns Spago Creperia in Gloucester, estimates she lost about £1,300 after the Gloucester Half Marathon and 10k closed roads across the city, meaning customers could not get to the restaurant.

Meanwhile, Jamie Di Cresciemzo, whose restaurant Bella Mia Pizza was fully booked from 12:00 BST and had several cancellations, said there were "no signposts" just "road closed" signs.

Gloucester City Council said signs were "in place in affected roads for some weeks to remind businesses and residents that the road closures would be in place on this day".

'Frustration'

A spokesperson for the council added: "We do not organise the Gloucester Half Marathon but the safety advisory group that the council participates in agreed to the event on the condition that the organisers contact all affected businesses to inform them of the race in advance."

Mrs Ciba, who runs tapas and crepe restaurant Spago with her husband, Pavol, said: "We open at 09:00 and we had 19 customers [booked in] from 09:00 and 09:30, and none of them managed to come.

"Straight away, the frustration was there... there was nothing [the customers] could do, nothing we could do."

Mrs Ciba said she was fully staffed and had prepared fresh ingredients, which were "just wasted".

Mrs Ciba believes the road closures on Mother's Day cost the business more than £1,000

"If I'm talking about the wages, I think about £1,300 we lost, easily," Mrs Ciba said.

"I've got two children to feed and I've got responsibility to pay the employees' wages - who is going to give me that money back?

"The business rates bill is already here for the next year, [Gloucester City Council] are really fast with that... but they don't care to check the days in the calendar."

Bella Mia Pizza at Gloucester Food Dock was open from 12:00, and had some cancellations at the start of the day

Jamie Di Cresciemzo, owner of Bella Mia Pizza and Greendoor, said he "wasn't expecting" the roads around Gloucester Quays and the Food Dock to be "completely closed".

"This year, we were fully booked from 12:00 and we had quite a few cancellations through no fault of their own, they just couldn't get in," he said.

"If it was me, I'd do the same.

"The perfect solution? Don't pick, for a business or restaurant, a prime day to do a marathon," he said.