Footfall down for festival

BUSINESSES reported mixed fortunes during this year’s Henley Literary Festival.

Some blamed roadworks that closed Market Place and other works in Reading Road, New Street and Northfield End for a decrease in footfall.

But others said that the first 10-day event brought a “buzz” which resulted in new faces coming through the door. The first 10-day festival ended on Sunday and featured 180 events at venues across town with thousands of tickets sold.

Sam Jonkers, co-owner of Jonkers Rare Books in Hart Street, said fewer customers than usual had come through the shop.

She said: “The traffic was horrendous and I really don’t think that helped. I can imagine that people got here stressed and then didn’t want to hang around town.”

Christian Alexandrou, 53, of Farm Road in Henley, who works at Franco Belge in Duke Street, said business was bad due to the road works.

He said: “A lot of shopkeepers were a lot of money down because of the road works, as it deterred people.

“With Market Place being closed, customers couldn’t come down and round to the Greys Road Car Park, with a few saying it took them an hour to come through Henley.”

Alex Silva, 30, of Greys Road, who works at The Square in Market Place, said: “The road works definitely stopped people coming.

“Most of our customers are elderly and have mobility issues, so they need to use their cars to go to the car park and walk across, but the closure made that difficult for them.”

Matt Millard, 42, of Highlands Park, who works at Henley Cycles Cervelo in Duke Street, said sales of bicycles are seasonal but they did notice a drop in sales over the last month.

He said: “Last September was our best in five years since opening in 2020, but it’s definitely quietened down more after the summer. It is the quieter season for cyclists, as it starts to get colder and the weather starts to change. It is possible the roadworks in Market Place didn’t help.”

Steve Luscombe, 59, who runs Luscombe’s restaurant in Bell Street, said the business did “amazing”. He said: “It was like a second royal regatta for us. Last year was good but this year was insane and we were exhausted afterwards.

“However, the traffic was heaving. It was like living in a bus station in London with the fumes.”

The Bell Bookshop in Bell Street, the festival’s bookselling partner, described sales as “buoyant”.

Manager Emma Downes said: “This year’s literary festival was the best yet. As always, it brought our gorgeous town alive and managed to maintain its buzz over 10 days.

“Sales at the events were buoyant and customers particularly enjoyed Jung Chan, Peter Frankopan, and Simon Armitage. Harriet Muncaster and Tweedy the Clown were a favourite with the children.

“The shop was busy, despite the appalling traffic jams and roadworks.”

Sandie Harrow, who owns the clothing shop Stocks in Bell Street, praised the festival and said she saw more new faces rather than familiar ones.

“The festival is superbly organised with a great choice of people to watch,” she said. “I definitely saw a lot more people who weren’t our usual Henley people, who had come for the festival, which was lovely because we got new customers.”

Ms Harrow believes more needs to be done to coordinate roadworks in the area, adding: “I’m sure the road works affected people coming in, but generally, something needs to be done about the road works and the coordination of those.”