Newcastle footfall down by roughly fifth due to fears over riots

Kris Jepson reports on the businesses impacted by fears over two protests that took place over the weekend, which ended peacefully.

Newcastle city centre footfall was down by an estimated 20 per cent last due to fears over potential rioting.

The concern was sparked by a series of riots across the country, influenced by elements of the Far Right online over the past fortnight, following the deaths of three children in Southport.

In the North East, riots broke out in Hartlepool, Sunderland and Middlesbrough, leaving business owners and residents in Newcastle fearful of what might happen on Saturday, where two protests were planned.

The anti-immigration protest took place on Saturday morning at the Bigg Market, and no more than 100 peaceful protesters took part.

They all distanced themselves from the violence and disorder in other towns and cities, but said they did not feel they were being listened to by the media or authorities over their concerns about immigration, which they claimed was out of control.

Several hundred people turned up across the road, at Newgate Street, for an anti-racism and anti-fascist protest.

The protesters listened to speeches and chanted anti-hate slogans, and said they were there to protest against the violence and disorder that had occurred.

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The business group NE1 said it was welcome relief that peaceful protests did not end in disorder over the weekend, but said they had caused a 20 per cent decline in footfall for much of last week in the city.

Stephen Patterson from NE1 told ITV News: "Obviously people were hearing things. There were concerns and they were cancelling bookings, you know, restaurants were previously fully booked, then cancelling bookings as a result. So we estimate at this point in time that we’re probably down around 20 per cent in terms of the city’s footfall from Wednesday onwards."

He added: "It is our civic space, our public realm. Those are the areas our community really comes together and we’ve seen that a lot over the start of the summer, with the activity in Old Eldon Square, down on the Quayside, families coming out and enjoying the city. That’s what we want to see.

"It’s difficult as well. We had Restaurant Week last week, and it is only a week, but we are absolutely extending it for another week to provide that opportunity for people who couldn’t take advantage of it last week."

A handful of businesses boarded up their windows ahead of the protests, but one, the Chilli Flame restaurant and takeaway on Newgate Street, decided against it after talking to the police.

Muhammad Farooq Khan from Chilli Flame told ITV News: "We took all the precautions to take care of our shop, because there’s windows all around. We didn’t cover it, but I was very worried about my shop and the business basically, so when police came in, they gave us the confidence that nothing would happen, and on the Saturday, when it happened, we were really secure and satisfied."

Blackfriars Restaurant had safety concerns over its staff and customers and said there was still had an economic impact on the business despite protests ending peacefully.

Talking to ITV News, Andy Hull from Blackfriars said: "Safety of our staff is the most important thing, and that of our customers and we just wanted to make sure that everyone was safe and they were happy to come in and then we had to take the financial hit on the chin.

"We’ve lost around 400 covers for Blackfriars and around 200 covers for our sister restaurant, which probably represents about 10 to 15 per cent of our overall business."

The city's Restaurant Week, which was supposed to run last week, will now be extended into this week.

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