My businesses don't agree with the closure of the street. I have to say that, over the course of the last two years, I have closed down Bank Street in order to enable access to pedestrians and so on. We had studies done before and after, and there was a slight drop in business in the area when we did the street closures. There were concerns from the public about access to the area and lots of complaints.
Closure of a street does create a lot of concern for the businesses and anxiety, and also for the public because they don't feel that they can get down there easily. They have to renegotiate. People want easy, comfortable access. I mean, unfortunately.... I've been doing this for 30 years in the BIA and this is the general feeling: parking and access to business. Unfortunately.... People do travel mostly by vehicle to come to shop, and point of sale purchases are much higher when people are in their vehicles.