Shopper free zone - Normally full of shoppers' cars,the town hall car parks were instead filled with police vehicles
The council had issued a 'business as usual' message to shoppers and traders prior to the weekend's demonstrations. But many businesses closed for the day in case violence erupted. All town centre pubs also shut up shop during the day but opened as normal in the evening.
Paul Turner-Mitchell, director of 25Ten Boutique on Yorkshire Street, said: "Trade at the shop was probably down about 50 per cent to what it should be on a Saturday. Town was quieter than usual which was to be expected. We will never get this day back or the trade we lost. Especially in the current climate we could really do without it at the moment."
John Peers, owner of John Peers Hair Studio on South Parade, closed his salon at 10am - losing more than £1,500 in takings. He said: "It was a complete wipe out. It was a really bad thing to happen to us. We had to cancel a lot of appointments and the worry is that some of these may now go elsewhere and we will lose custoers. I suppose on the bright side it could have been worse and there was no damage to our shop."
Lorenzo O'Reilly, manager at Rochdale Exchange shopping centre, praised the police for their handling of the operation. He said there was no trouble in the centre but he did remove benches and planters for the day. Any groups that entered the centre were asked to leave and did so without any trouble.
Rochdale Observer
2 comments:
Losing a day's trade is no joke to high street businesses at this time of economic hardship.
THE POWERS THAT BE ARE IN A FIX.THEY HAD THE CHANCE TO NIP THIS RACIAL TICKING TIMEBOMB IN THE BUD,BUT INSTEAD THEY IGNORED THE ALARMS BELLS.I SERIOUSLY FEEL THEY WANTED THIS RACIAL MESS TO COME TO AHEAD.HENCE PM's PUT DOWN ON MULTICULTURALISM.NOW THE ORDINARY UK CITIZEN/ELECTORATE,TOWN,CITY HAS TO ENDURE THEIR SO CALLED EDUCATED IGNORANCE.9xzulug
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