Open Roads

Our last blog was a bit of a rant about the gridlock around Plymouth's Barbican and the fact that to get to HARBOUR SPORTS PLYMOUTH was almost impossible. For us it was another case of 'who cares about the little guys' as a huge utility company crunched through Plymouth. Added to the chaos that has been rampant for the past year on Gadynia Way (the bit just after the Embankment) we were feeling unloved. You do have to question Plymouth Council's strategic planning perhaps.

Anyway last Sunday Frank popped down to the Barbican for a BBC Spotlight interview with Simon Alexander. That went out at teatime and again in the late evening. The following morning folk from the utility company called to see Andy Partridge (our Plymouth manager) to say all would be well.......................AND IT IS.

THE BARBICAN IS UP AND RUNNING and the way to HARBOUR SPORTS PLYMOUTH IS CLEAR........

All a coincidence probably but the outcome is lovely....

frank

The Gridlock That Is Plymouth

What is happening on the Barbican at the moment is like something out of Yes Minister! Well to be truthful it would be a little too far fetched for comedy, although having said that it might work as black comedy.

So last Sunday I am in a van attempting to deliver stock to Harbour Sports on Barbican Parade. I say attempting because the road to the west is blocked by a huge hole dug to accommodate the new gas pipeline. The road to the east is blocked by another whopping great hole and the only way to reach The Parade is a jig trough the backstreets, squeezing past parked cars and worried looking pedestrians avoiding ruthless wing mirrors.

Phone calls about this roadblock to the pipe layers asking how long this is going take receive the usual response from battered call centre staff, which not only leaves Harbour Sports physically isolated but also psychologically scarred by stress.

Business has almost stopped with little hope of anything meaningful being achieved until the gas pipe laying crew eventually drift aimlessly off to a new location. Two weeks they said it would take and that is now long past with little sign of anything meaningful happening. The signs near the big hole say Barbican Business As Usual. Ha. No it’s not.

All this whilst still suffering the gymnastic road works on Gadynia Way which cause daily misery! One day traffic will run freely again to and from town perhaps or simply gridlock.

They say that the new gas pipe will last for eighty years, which is likely to be seventy years longer than the gas supply!

Meanwhile we continue to spend hundreds of thousands encouraging people to visit Plymouth – which for many will be their first and last trip after spending pointless hours in queuing static traffic.

Tapestry.

Frank