Florence Pugh's father restaurateur Clinton Pugh has said traffic measures such as LTNs and traffic filters in Oxford are killing his 30-year-old business.

Mr Pugh said takings at Cafe Coco, which opened in 1992, are down 25 per cent and his two other restaurants Kazbar and Café Tarifa on Cowley Road have been affected.

"People are not coming, footfall has fallen hugely. It's drastically affecting my cash flow and whether I will be able to survive," he said. "If I go bust I've got 54 members of staff who will be gone."

On top of the challenges of the pandemic lockdowns and soaring bills, he revealed he has had to turn to his movie star daughter for financial help.

Mr Pugh told The Sunday Times: "I'm 64 years of age and I could go bankrupt. It's hearbreaking and very difficult not to get tearful.

"Why should I ask my daughter for money? She's already helped me out financially [with] a lot of money where I had cash flow problems, it's not fair."

He said his daughter Florence, who was Oscar-nominated for Little Women and recently starred in Don't Worry Darling with Harry Styles, once earned extra money working at Cafe Coco.

Oxford Mail:

Mr Pugh was one of 52 people who spoke at the meeting last week where traffic filters were voted through by the county council.

It was so heated two people had to be escorted out of the chamber by security. 

Mr Pugh also criticised the consultation process and a survey conducted during it which found only 7 per cent of respondents supported the filters.

He said: "This is a joke, we've been asked to fill in this survey and it's completely ignored anyway, so why did they ask us? It's not democracy.

"The council are doing this because they have a dream that Oxford's just going to be full of cyclists like Amsterdam. It's becoming a bit like Lord of the Flies, they're just making it up as they go along and it's so destructive and damaging."

Mr Pugh has put up an anti-LTN billboard on the side of Café Coco.

It states that 95 per cent of businesses in the area have seen footfall and turnover drop.

“They cannot survive without customers coming from other parts of the city and county,” it says.

And it describes the traffic filters, as 'the final nail in the coffin' and will lead to 'the complete segregation of Oxford'.

The banner reads: "The county council is pretending to listen but this is shamefully a complete and utter lie."

The East Oxford LTN scheme was installed in May and has been criticised for displacing traffic and damaging business.

Multiple incidents of vandalism have cost taxpayers £72,000 so far and the county council is now to spend £100,000 on replacing the plastic bollards with steel ones.

Supporters say they make roads safer and more pleasant.

Councillor Andrew Gant, the council's cabinet member for highways management, has said traffic filters are "an important tool" to deliver "a more sustainable, reliable and inclusive transport system for everyone" and said they will be introduced as a trial.

 

 

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This story was written by Miranda Norris, she joined the team in 2021 and covers news across Oxfordshire as well as news from Witney.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Miranda.Norris@newsquest.co.uk. Or find her on Twitter: @Mirandajnorris

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