A Clonmel businessman says the temporary closure of a car park in the town has had a major impact on trade.
The Friary car park on Abbey Street will be closed for up to five months as works are carried out to turn it into a dual purpose performance venue and car park.
This has resulted in the loss of 32 parking spaces with another 12 gone due to the redevelopment of the Clonmel Arms Hotel site
Michael runs a business on nearby Mitchell Street – he told Tipp Today earlier that what was already a difficult time for businesses has been made much worse.
“It’s a struggle for business at the moment and with the closure of the car park last week we’ve seen a drop off of 33% in turnover. Two years ago when Covid was still very much going on there was an online consultation for businesses to take part and I suppose the unanimous verdict and opinion from businesses was they were welcoming anything that would improve the town centre but they didn’t want something to impact on business.
“And the next communication that we received was a letter last Tuesday morning after the car park had been closed saying it was going to be closed until October. Nothing in the meantime.”
