Businesses plead for clarity on bridge reopening

Hossey Saghri said he worried for the future of businesses

Businesses have said they fear for the future of Bewdley town centre if tourists and visitors from surrounding areas are put off by a bridge closure and resulting diversion.

Work on Bewdley Bridge, part of new flood defences being installed by the Environment Agency, started in August 2023 and was due to be completed by this month.

The construction is pushing entrepreneurs to "breaking point", according to Hossey Saghri from The Mug House Inn.

Bewdley Town Council said contractors had been working hard to enable Kidderminster Road and Bewdley Bridge to open to two-way traffic as soon as 1 August.

Mr Saghri said: "We were hoping to be a lot busier than we are, even with all the challenges with the bridge being a one-way system but no absolutely not, we continue to have a huge sales decline year on year.

"All the visitors, which we are hugely reliant on, the locals who come from Kidderminster or people catching a bus from over the other side of the bridge are clearly not going to want to do a five-mile detour.

"For tourists, it's been a huge challenge for them to come to Bewdley especially the ones who have known and visited me for many years," Mr Saghri said.

The Worcestershire town has been hit in recent winters by the swollen River Severn flooding, blighting homes and businesses.

Bewdley Bridge closed to traffic on 29 August 2023 for flood improvement works

Owner of The Green Cobbler shoe repair business, Brynn Hazelwood, said he had seen a number of businesses shut due to the bridge closure.

"Those of us who have survived are literally surviving as the longer this goes on, the risk is that we're going to lose more, and that's a shame.

"It's not that we don't get visitors, but they certainly haven't come in the same numbers," he said.

Mr Hazelwood, along with Mr Saghri, said communication on when the bridge would reopen needed to improve.

"The communication is very poor, we were told it was going to be early July. We're then told, it was before the kids broke up from school but there is nothing coming.

"We need some clarity," Mr Hazelwood added.

A spokesperson from Bewdley Town Council said work on the bridge was in its final stages.

"If they can successfully lay some specialist-coloured tarmac on week commencing 28 July 2025, Bewdley Bridge will be opened again for two-way traffic on Friday 1 August 2025.

"This specialist tarmac requires dry conditions and cannot be laid in the rain, so we are hoping for good weather that week.

"The Stourport Road will remain closed into September, with the formal opening of the flood scheme currently being planned for early September," they said.