St Neots traders blame market square revamp for struggles

The work in St Neots' market square is due to finish early next year

A town's traders fear they could be forced out of business because of the ongoing impact of regenerative building work.

A multi-million pound revamp of Market Square in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, began in January and will not be completed until next year.

Shop owners claim the disruption is putting off visitors and harming their livelihoods.

Huntingdonshire District Council said it was working to minimise disruption.

Sue Noades, who runs Betty Bumbles Vintage Tea Room, said footfall in the town had dropped dramatically and she had reduced her opening times to three times a week.

"I cannot employ staff to come here to stand around with the possibility of customers coming in, because it is just not viable," she said.

"It is exceptionally worrying. We have outside seating in the summer time, which starts from April through to the beginning of October, and that is one of our main incomes.

"If we do not have a seating area I am not sure how we will survive and I am not sure whether customers will want to sit there with barriers next to them.

"It is not looking attractive and I really do not know how we can get through the next year. If we can manage to I think it will be a miracle."

Sue Noades is only opening her tearoom three days a week since the work began

Angela Fowles works at McPops Party and Gift Shop - which opened in 2022 - but has struggled since the beginning of the year.

She said: "We had a very quiet January and we didn't have as good a Valentine's as we had expected - it was quite a few hundred pounds less this year than it was last year.

"If it carries on being as slow as it is, unfortunately we will have to close down and pack up because we have not had many orders for anything lately.

"We are literally working month to month at the moment. As long as we make the rent, we can stay open."

The work has seen parking spaces removed as the square will be repaved, with new seating areas added and trees planted.

An artist's impression of what the new Market Square in St Neots will look like

The revamp is part of a £15m investment in the town, jointly funded by the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority, Huntingdonshire District Council, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, National Highways and Cambridgeshire County Council.

Sam Wakeford, executive councillor for jobs, economy, and housing on the district council, said: "The Market Square works will deliver a fantastic new public realm space, as part of further improvement works around the town centre.

"As with any project of this nature, there will be some level of disruption when works of this size are being delivered but we are minimising these as much as possible.

"We engaged with local businesses ahead of these works and have continued an open dialogue with those impacted, helping to resolve issues as they have arisen, such as allocating space for deliveries and loading for businesses located around the Market Square and supporting the weekly Thursday market to continue trading."