Bradford pub and club boss loses £15,000 over weekend

Source: Telegraph & Argus

Businesses in Bradford were today still counting the cost of the English Defence League’s demonstration.

Many traders in the city centre took the tough decision to close for the day and others suffered a huge loss of trade as shoppers avoided the city centre because of the fear of violence on Saturday.

Andrew Longman, director of the Link pub company, which owns four pubs and nightclubs in the city centre, said he had lost £15,000 over the weekend.

Mr Longman, whose company owns bars including Bar Uber in Sackville Street and the Harp of Erin in Chain Street, said he had been forced to close early due to lack of trade, even after employing security staff.

“People were too scared to come out,” he said. “The clientele we mainly go for is the pensioners. We are in a minus in a bad way.”

Referring to the demonstration, which provoked a counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism, he said: “This should never happen again.

“We know the pub trade is not the best at the moment as so we live day to day. Somebody’s got to be liable for this. It’s absolutely mad.”

Arthur Rigby, owner of Jack Hodgson florists in Bridge Street, said he was glad he had closed during the demonstration in Bradford’s Urban Garden.

He said: “Even if the shop had stayed open, there was no-one in town anyway, so it would have been a quiet day.

“Everybody who did stay open would have suffered loss of trade.”

Val Summerscales, secretary of Bradford Chamber of Trade, said it was difficult to quantify exactly how much trade had been lost through shops closing.

But she said: “Anything like that is bound to have an impact, because, if businesses are shut, it reduces people’s willingness to come into the city centre.”

Some shops decided to close and some were boarded up for the day during the protests but trouble was kept to a minimum, due mainly to a huge police presence. Mrs Summerscales said: “It was policed very, very well and it does make a difference that there was a co-ordinated effort from everyone involved. It meant that disruption was kept to a minimum.”

It is estimated that the cost to West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council to deal with the protests could be as much as £500,000.

West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison said: “The containment of trouble comes at a cost, but has been money well spent.

“The consequences of the disorder in 2001 amounted to £11 million in damage and an awful lot of community heartache.”

As reported in Monday’s Telegraph & Argus, the way police handled the protests could be used in future as a national blueprint for dealing with similar events.