THE owner of an award-winning restaurant is worrying that he’ll have to close down after ten years’ operation as prolonged roadworks continue to deter customers.
Alam’s Lounge in Higham has been building a following over the past decade, taking home prestigious Trip Advisor awards while owner Abbey Khan made a name for himself over the Covid-19 pandemic when he provided more than 2,500 meals to front-line staff.
His efforts earned him a Proud of Barnsley award, as the whole community celebrated the charitable achievements.
Yet recent road works along Higham Common Road have caused the business problems, with passers-by struggling to access the restaurant and believing the business is closed due to fencing around the car park.
Temporary traffic lights have been in place since October 28 and Abbey says that business is down 40 per cent compared to where it was last year.
The current roadworks are the first part of the controversial MU1 development, which is expected to continue over the next few years as 1,500 homes are built.
He told the Chronicle: “I won’t lie, the business has been struggling a bit for a few years, but this is the final nail in the coffin.
“We came to Barnsley ten years ago - for us it’s our second home.
“This is the livelihood of not just myself, but my daughter, my wife, my children and everybody who’s been working at the restaurant.
“We’ve got to the point now where I’ve had to let my family go because I can’t afford to pay them anything - we’re on a skeleton staff because we just haven’t got people coming in at all.
“We’ve lost our Christmas trade, our new year’s trade and our Valentine’s trade.
“In the past you couldn’t get a table at Alam’s Lounge over Christmas, we were booked up by November - this past Christmas people were making bookings and not even showing up.”
On top of the effects on business, workers have been using the restaurant’s car parks, with vans and construction vehicles taking up space and causing damage to the surfacing.
Abbey has tried putting in complaints and even considered claiming compensation, but explains he’s unsure where to even start and feels he’s been ‘pushed from pillar to post’.
“It would’ve been nice to have been consulted a little bit - we could’ve come up with a strategy and maybe had signs out in the village or towards the motorway,” he added.
“But that’s in hindsight, at this point we’ve not got the money to invest in that.
“We don’t want to close, it’s the last thing I want to do - there’s so many people’s livelihoods that rely on this place and we’ve always tried to keep things local.
“We employ local people because we want to keep money here in the community.
“It’s a shame because I know people are struggling out there and to this day, even though we’re struggling, we want to stick by the community.
“Don’t let your kids go hungry, if they’re hungry during school holidays bring them up - I feel for people but it can feel like they’ve turned their backs on us.”
Coun Robin Franklin, cabinet spokesperson for regeneration and culture, said: “Roadworks and temporary traffic lights are in place in Higham until the end of April.
“This is to facilitate works on a new roundabout and provide the southern access into the MU1 local plan allocation site.”
