Mannetti’s is a café in the centre of York. It opened in Lendal in 2019. And four years later, after navigating the pandemic and rising energy costs, it started to turn a profit.
But just as that moment came, fences were erected outside, and the street sealed off. Why? So, sliding bollards could be installed across the city centre to protect those in it from would-be terrorists trying to drive a vehicle into busy pedestrianised streets.
Marie Milburn, a director of Mannetti’s, claimed she was only told about the work days before it started, meaning she was unable to plan ahead.
Marie Milburn, a director of Mannetti’s (Image: Dylan Connell)
Lendal was closed for seven weeks in total while the bollards were installed.
During that time, from late April to June in 2023, Ms Milburn said the café’s takings fell by 80 per cent as footfall dropped in the street. She even decided to close the business for a week during the work rather than face more loses.
“At one point you couldn’t even see us,” she said, adding that one day she sold a single coffee.
A year on, Ms Milburn said: “I’d say we’ve just now started to hit our stride again.”
She was one of four traders who spoke to The Press about the impact of installing the anti-terrorism bollards in York city centre a year on to determine if the disruption was as bad as they first feared.
We put our findings to City of York Council, which planned the work as part of its ‘hostile vehicle mitigation’ scheme. In response, James Gilchrist, a director at the council, re-iterated his apology to traders for the disruption.
He said the bollards were installed to send “a clear message to would-be terrorists and all in the city centre that we’re taking action” and enhance York’s reputation as one of the safest cities in the UK.
How much have the bollards cost?
The £3.5 million permanent protection measures were approved by the then Liberal Democrat/Green council in 2022 on advice from counter terrorism police to combat ‘vehicle as weapon attacks’.
A Freedom of Information request by The Press to City of York Council revealed that spending on the bollards from 2022 to 2024 was £3.34 million (just over £1 million in 2022/23 and £2.31 million in 2023/24).
It also shows that, over the same period, £228,912 was spent on operating the sliding bollards (£143,139 in 2022/23 and £85,722 in 2023/24).
The bollards were based on similar measures installed in Bath, Leeds, Chester and Sheffield.
In Bath – an historic city, like York – the measures have cost £7.4 million, according to figures released by Bath & North East Somerset Council.
North Yorkshire Police’s senior commander for York, Superintendent Jon Aldred, told The Press York’s barriers are not “in response to any direct threat”, instead “they are there to act as a deterrent to hostile vehicle attacks”.
The government’s UK-wide terrorism threat, meanwhile, is substantial, meaning an attack is likely.
Public’s reaction to bollards
Despite the reasons outlined for the bollards being installed, the measures were controversial when they first appeared.
The Press previously asked readers what they thought of the bollards on social media.
Hundreds of comments were left – some in favour of the barriers and others branding them a “waste of money”.
On X (formerly Twitter) Brian Crosby said the bollards were a reminder of the UK’s terrorism threat.
“I don’t think they’re a waste of money, but what profoundly disturbs me is that we live in an era where we accept the possibility of a terrorist attack on a shopping community without challenging those who would carry out such attacks,” he wrote. “I want to live in a society where bollards are not required to stop Christmas shoppers being massacred. Unreasonable?”
Meanwhile, Chris Dixon felt they were an “awful idea” and said the siren, which sounds as the bollards move, was a “racket”.
“It’s a no from me,” he concluded.
But commenters did agree that they looked like Daleks.
“Exterminate, exterminate,” they wrote, comparing the sliding metal barriers to Doctor Who’s mutants.
Traders, however, saw a less humorous side to their arrival.
Along with Ms Milburn, Mehmet Simsek, owner of Trio Kitchen and Bar in Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate; Phil Pinder, co-owner of Potions Cauldrons in Shambles and chair of the York High Street Forum; and Andrew Hannan, owner of Clarksons menswear in Blake Street, claimed they were not given enough notice about the work to install the bollards outside their businesses.
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Mr Gilchrist admitted: “Notice has not always been as early as we’d like due to the specialised and complex nature of this work involving a small number of specialist contractors, and working within a medieval network of foot streets. Again, I apologise for that.”
He added that businesses and residents in the city centre were kept informed with “early engagement sessions, notices about exploratory works, press releases, social media posts, personal visits, hand-delivered letters and an information stall in Shambles market”.
Mr Simsek, however, said he was only told about the work one week before it started.
He claimed a council officer came to his restaurant and told him: “You’ll be fine.”
“We were not fine,” he said, adding that the outside of the building was “blocked” during the work to install the measures.
Mr Hannan claimed workers “rocked up on the Friday and started work on the Monday with no communication” in Blake Street.
“There was no notice, we weren’t consulted on how the work was going to take place,” Mr Pinder added of the work in Shambles.
Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, told The Press that communication from the council “was, at times, very poor, meaning businesses were unable to plan ahead”.
“Some traders told me that they got very short notice of works or were alerted to works happening when they did not, which particularly harmed businesses who felt compelled to close during the works.
“I know the council felt that it fulfilled its statutory duty as a highways authority, but the council also has an important role to play in supporting local businesses.”
Mr Simsek and Mr Hannan, like Ms Milburn, said their takings fell by 80 per cent during the work.
They said the work meant people were reluctant to walk down the streets their businesses are on, and they lost out as a result.
“We had tables booking but then not turning up. And when we’d call, [customers] would say, ‘Because it’s completely blocked off’, they thought it was closed,” said Matt Simsek, restaurant manager at Trio Kitchen and Bar.
His father, the restaurant’s owner, added that after the work finished “we still couldn’t get our usual customers back as quick as before”.
He said customers came back “eventually” but “it took a long time”.
“We’d been struggling anyway because of Covid – it took us well back.”
The work in Colliergate, near the restaurant, started in October in the lead up to the Christmas market – the busiest times of year for the business, Mr Simsek said.
Work was paused over the Christmas period itself by the council but Mr Simsek said the impact on takings before this had a big impact.
“I am 60, I’ve been in business in York since 1990 – I have never witnessed this type of thing,” he said. “I nearly lost my confidence; I nearly lost my passion.”
Mr Simsek owns a café next to the restaurant and a pizza business.
“If it wasn’t for our second businesses, we would be closed already,” he said.
Mr Hannan, from Clarksons menswear in Blake Street, was in a similar position.
“We’re lucky to have two shops in Petergate, so that keeps the business afloat,” he said. “If I was an individual shop, then yes: it’s a disaster all the way through.”
Mr Hannan said the drop in footfall in Blake Street was worse than expected, describing the work as a “massive deterrent for people coming down the street”.
Ms Milburn and Mr Simsek agreed, saying the drop in footfall in Lendal and Colliergate was also worse than they originally feared.
Council criticised for its managing of the work
The traders all agreed that the council could have managed the work better.
They criticised what they felt was a lack of support available from the council during the period, as well as the communication from the authority.
Ms Maskell said businesses told her the work would have been “delivered much more effectively if the council had taken a more joined up approach and worked more closely with them”.
“At the time [the council] worked against business rather than with business,” Mr Pinder said. “They harmed a lot of businesses in York by installing the barriers.
“Thankfully we’ve had some good times since then and hopefully people have been able to recover from that, but that shouldn’t be the case – we shouldn’t have to rely on having good times afterwards to make up for the losses.”
Mr Hannan, meanwhile, said Clarksons menswear was left “high and dry” with “zero support” from the council during the work.
“There was no help whatsoever,” he said. “We’re an established business, trading since 1946, so you’d expect a little bit of gratitude to us. There was nothing like that.”
Mr Gilchrist said the council is aware of the “devasting economic impact should a terrorism event occur”.
“Businesses recognise this, but also undertaking works in a busy city centre is disruptive to businesses in the short term and the council is acutely aware of this.
“We have avoided key festivals at Christmas and the summer to minimise disruption and always ensured every property could be accessed on foot, although by necessity sometimes this would be very different from normal.”
Calls for financial support
According to the government, businesses are not required to be compensated with public funds due to works in the highway.
But, despite this, some of the traders felt that compensation was necessary due to their losses.
Ms Milburn said it would have made a “massive difference” if she was offered compensation at the time, explaining: “We’ve had to do things on such a shoestring to try and get through.”
Ms Maskell said that when businesses “were barely able to trade, they should have received some form of support from the council to recognise the financial impact they face, for example relief on business rates”.
“In future, it’s important that works are carefully co-produced so that the needs of the city and businesses can be balanced in the interests of all.”
The Labour MP added: “When I spoke with contractors they said there was more they could have done, and in future I’d like to see the council being a partner to business and supporting them with the challenges they are facing.
“I also believe Make it York and the council missed opportunities to work positively and creatively with businesses to mitigate the financial impact of the works.”
Mr Gilchrist said: “To support affected businesses, promotional work was undertaken by a partnership of City of York Council, the York BID and the city’s Federation of Small Businesses.
“This includes extra, bigger signage that businesses are open as usual, and promotional activity to win shopping vouchers from affected businesses.”
The final bollards are currently being installed at the junction of High Ousegate and Piccadilly.
Mr Gilchrist said it will be a “relief to many” when the work is complete.
