Rochester businesses suffer 'six figure' losses as festival is postponed

KentOnline / KMTV

Storm Darragh caused the Dickensian Festival to be put off until the next weekend, but shops along the high street lost out on extra stock and more staff. Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00£10,000. That's how much one business in Rochester, City Wall, estimated their loss

00:05as after the annual Dickensian Festival would be cancelled after Storm Darragh.

00:09Every year, the celebration sees massive footfall in the town and a boost to its economy,

00:14with a market for Rochester's artisan goods, a food village for vendors and Santa's Village

00:18to keep the kids entertained. So when the closure was announced last week, it was local businesses

00:23that should have benefited from the festival that were going to suffer the financial consequences.

00:28Hundreds of pounds worth of stock that we just had to,

00:31you know, we couldn't use, it just had to go to waste. So that affected us quite a lot.

00:35Yeah, planning ahead with all the staff for it to be really busy, having everyone in,

00:40that's wages there, didn't actually need people to the time that they were here. So,

00:45yeah, it was quite, it was quite, yeah, it was a kick, definitely a kick in the teeth.

00:52Pia also added that Morley's would be less prepared for this weekend

00:55than they would have been for the last one, with less money for staff wages meaning they

00:59wouldn't be able to deal with the added pressure of more foot traffic and could lose out on more

01:04profit than they already had. Other businesses like Poco Locos and Chatham, Don Vicencio and

01:09Gordon's Hotel and Restaurant also suffered large losses, having to donate away or waste the food

01:14they had bought in bulk in preparation for the event. Despite this, the festival is still going

01:19ahead partially this weekend in an attempt to salvage the event, and although Morley's and

01:24other businesses are worried ahead of this weekend, with some now lacking staff or stock,

01:28a cafe, Lenny's of Eastgate, thought the change of date was a good alternative.

01:33Yeah, so it affected quite, quite a lot actually. So the one behind us has actually closed on the

01:38Sunday and we actually closed it for half an hour on Saturday, just due to the footfall wasn't

01:42coming down. But no, Morley's, we're looking, just looking forward to the community coming

01:46back together and just, just really enjoying the Christmas vibes that Rochester High Street has.

01:52Behind the scenes, Medway Council and the Rochester City Centre Forum defended the choice

01:57to shut the original celebration. I can't remember an atmosphere like it in a room when a decision

02:02like that was taken, and it wasn't taken lightly. And we just knew, obviously we're connected with

02:09the high street, we know the kind of investment that all the hospitality businesses in particular

02:14have made. Combine them all, it's well into six figures. While some shops are worried ahead of

02:19the market, locals are hopeful the weekend celebrations will make up for the inconvenience

02:23and cost caused by Storm Darragh. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Rochester.

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