Martha Swift at her bakery in Primrose Hill

INDEPENDENT traders are facing a “Christmas crisis” with major railway works due hit a popular parade throughout the festive period.

The Primrose Bakery, Melrose & Morgan deli and grocery, La Petite Poissonerie fish shop and Sweet Pea jeweller and The Engineer pub are among several businesses impacted by Network Rail’s bridge replacement project in Primrose Hill.

The government-backed company is bringing in 80 workers to fit clanking railway fittings in a total bridge overhaul, including on Christmas Day

A long stretch of Gloucester Avenue, between Fitzroy Road and Cecil Sharp House, will be shut both ways to traffic in phases starting on Monday and ending on January 4.

Hoardings and fences will be put up outside shops while the main bridge is strengthened to take the weight of a “massive crane” needed to install a replacement bridge further up the Regent’s Canal.

Traders fears Christmas produce will be wasted as customers choose shopping streets accessible by car.

Martha Swift, who grew up in Primrose Hill and has run the Primrose Hill Bakery in Gloucester Avenue for 18 years, said: “Once again it feels like with Network Rail you have this big company doing what it likes at the expense of the independent businesses.

“These next three weeks are key. The build-up to Christmas people are spending more money, and going out and buying things.

“In January people are on diets and don’t want to spend money. It’s not only me – we all have competitors or similar businesses in the area. If I’m a customer, and it’s too much of a stress to go to Gloucester Avenue, if you cannot park, or stop, or there’s a load of noise or dirt, you’d think twice about going there.

The first phase begins

“People love it to have independent businesses but for them to be here, it’s not just magic. There are all sorts of things we are up against. We are not the sort of people who just clock in and clock out.”

Businesses are trying to recover after the hit of Covid. The cost of supplies has gone up and Ms Swift’s bakery is also suffering from the egg shortage caused by the spread of avian flu.

“I just worry that people will be saying next year ‘oh isn’t it sad things didn’t work out for that business’. Isn’t that sad? By then it will be too late,” said Ms Swift, who grew up in the area and went to Camden School for Girls.

“Of course we don’t want an unsafe bridge but there’s no notice, no consultation and no consideration that the majority of the businesses are independent.”

Two public meetings have been already been held about the problem with residents calling and traders calling for the road to be opened one-way only and for parking regulations to be relaxed. Other ideas have included better signs showing the shops are still open, rate relief and financial compensation.

At the Melrose deli, director  Sabrina Attar said: “We ordered Christmas stuff and we’re worried we won’t have customers to sell this stock to. We’re worried about what lies ahead, because we rely so much on these three weeks in December.” Susana Coelho, manager at La Petite Poissonerie, said: “They’re planning to close on the busiest time of the year, which is Christmas and New Year. So it’s going to be a major thing. It’s going to be ridiculous.”

Long time resident Pam White said Network Rail and the council had effectively “colluded to create a Christmas crisis for traders in Gloucester Avenue”, adding: “Christmas trading is always the busiest time for shops, many of whom rely on attracting a large proportion of their trading income.”

The bridge is one of several maintained by Network Rail that were built during the Victorian era and have now reached a point where major works are required. A £533,000 repair programme for the “dead dog basin” begins in January.

Network Rail said it was sorry for the impact on businesses and a spokesperson added: “While we understand there’s never an ideal time for disruptive railway upgrades, this is essential work which must be done to keep passengers and canal users safe. “Christmas was chosen as the least disruptive time for passengers during the traditional festive shutdown of tracks and the canal network also being at its quietest time of the year.”

A council spokesperson said: “We have secured additional mitigations from Network Rail on behalf of local businesses, which include permitting delivery access through the road closure and installing additional signage to direct residents to businesses on Gloucester Avenue.”