Landlady of Grey Mare says road closures are impacting trade

Rebecca Prince, who manages the Grey Mare, Belthorn, with partner Stephen Prince, says trade is 70 per cent down compared to this time last year, insisting road closures are to blame.

Rebecca is urging the county council to stay in touch with the team and let them know about closures on Grane Road and Elton Road, well in advance.

Lancashire County Council said the works, to protect the surface from water damage and help to prevent potholes from appearing, will continue sporadically over the coming weeks.

Grey Mare in Belthorn (Image: Rebecca Prince)

A spokesperson said it wrote to businesses to give them at least two weeks advance notice of the work starting. The council said it also put signs up on all approaches, including an electronic message board, to let people know of the dates the road would be closed, and that businesses would be open as usual.

Rebecca said: “The road is sporadically closed and there is no plan in place to say what time and when it will close.

“They are closing different parts of the road which is causing a big issue for us.

“We are a meeting point for customers across Lancashire. If we can’t ring customers and let them know which roads they can use to get to us then they will go elsewhere.

“Customers have been coming to us and complaining as nobody knows what is happening.”

Stephen and Rebecca Prince (Image: NQ)

Rebecca said the road closures are having a “massive impact” on the business and says trade was 70 per cent down compared to this time last year.

“With the cost of living and energy crises, this is just the last thing we need at the minute,” Rebecca said.

“We can’t keep paying staff wages if we don’t have any customers coming in. It’s also made it difficult for staff to get into work.

“Customers are cancelling because they think the road is closed and they can’t get through to us.”

Rebecca is asking the council to work closely with the pub, and other businesses, impacted by the road closures. 

She said: “The Grey Mare depends highly on [these roads] for trade. Stephen and I have been at the Grey Mare for 26 years and have a wonderful loyal team that works alongside us and has done for many years.

"This is putting their jobs and ours at stake as we cannot sustain these closures for a long period of time. 

“If we have good communication about which areas are closing, exact times and signs to explain that we are open this could make such a difference.

“We completely understand this has to be done to make the road safe and protect workers' safety but this is affecting livelihoods now which does need to be considered.”

The council said works have been carried out on the road since March. This work focused on repairing defects and improving drainage.

The next phase of work began on Sunday, April 21, with off-peak closures needed for work to resurface sections of the road.

Grane Road/Elton Road will be closed from 9.30am to 3pm from Monday, April 29 until Friday, May 3, for this work to be completed.

Further work has been planned to protect the road from water ingress, with details of this work to be released in the coming months.

A spokesman for the council said: "We're currently carrying out a package of improvements to Grane Road/Elton Road to protect the surface from water damage and help to prevent potholes from appearing in the future.

"We're very conscious that Grane Road/Elton Road is an important route, and of the impact that any closures or delays due to work taking place on the road can cause, and wrote to businesses to give them at least two weeks' advance notice of the work starting.

"We also put signs up on all approaches, including an electronic message board, to let people know of the dates the road would be closed, and that businesses would be open as usual.

"The initial work in March and April was focused on repairing defects and improving drainage, and a further phase of improvements began on Sunday 21 April, with off-peak closures needed for work to resurface sections of the road.

"This work is continuing this week, however as we have made good progress, the closures planned for Thursday, April 25, and Friday, April 26, will not be needed. Grane Road/Elton Road will also be closed from 9.30am to 3pm from Monday, April 29 to Friday 3 May for this work to be completed.

"We have some further work planned to 'surface dress' the road to protect it from water ingress and will shortly be letting people know of the dates so that they can plan their journeys in the coming weeks.

"We're doing all we reasonably can to minimise disruption while carrying out these vital improvements and are grateful to people for their patience while the work is ongoing."