AFTER seeing first hand all the hard work that has gone into re-opening the Raven Inn community pub at Glazebury over recent years it was extremely disappointing to see the chaos caused by the ongoing road works outside the premises.
Pub trade during the school holidays and the current cost of living crisis is tough enough at the best of times, with several premises in and around the area already closing in recent times.
With the popular Pack Horse Inn also temporarily closed this was the ideal opportunity for the Raven Inn to pick up some new business from the Culcheth area.
While I understand roadworks are necessary, so is clear and concise communication to those who are going to be impacted – especially when it comes to local businesses that rely on passing trade.
While the closures were advertised and discussed, it was most unfortunate that the contractors started the phased works in the wrong order – taking those who run the Raven Inn by complete surprise.
Once the error was highlighted the council and contractors said the work will be done as quickly as possible – maybe within six weeks! This is a huge amount of time for a small business to lose trade.
I feel the very least the council and contractors should do is offer the Raven Inn some form of compensation.
Not only would it help the pub through the coming weeks and months as business picks up in the run up to Christmas – but it would also send out a clear message that there are consequences for poor communication.
There seems to be an ever-increasing problem, especially when it comes to road works – that the job is not being completed to a satisfactory standard.
There have been a few incidences of road works having to be redone because they were not done to satisfactory standard first time around.
Also, I don’t know about you but when I’m driving around the Warrington area these days there appear to be more road works than ever, maybe if they got the job right first time they’d be less frequent.
