'Confusing' HS2 road signs impacting business

The summer holidays should be one of the busiest periods for a Stoneleigh farm shop and restaurant, but the closure of a main route to the site for HS2 works is leaving the business "dead", its owner has said.

Access through Stoneleigh Park from Finham to North Leamington has been shut since 3 August by the rail firm and will not reopen until the 30th.

Nicola Reece, the managing director of Farmers Fayre on the site said: "Our business is suffering. We are about 30 to 40 percent down on sales at a time when hospitality is already struggling with the VAT issue and the business rates."

HS2 said it had not received complaints about signage, but would continue to make it clear that businesses on the park are open and revisit the signage.

The farm shop restaurant is open daily and sells local produce from many small suppliers in the area.

Reece claimed that, despite having a meeting with HS2 ahead of the road closures to minimise any impact, her concerns had been ignored.

She said: "We were promised all this signage, as the road is completely blocked from Leamington to Stoneleigh, so there's only access via Stoneleigh Village Hill.

"In small print it says 'access to Stoneleigh Park only' and that is after you make the decision to go through the barricade, it literally looks like trying to get into a prison.

"They've then built a small road to access, which is not the normal road in to Stoneleigh Park, and on the route you've got two chicanes with cones in the middle of the road, no idea why, so yes it's caused a major issue this time."

Local residents and businesses along the London to Birmingham HS2 route have faced years of disruption since the works started six years ago.

In May, it was announced that the project would face further delays, with trains not starting to run until at least 2036.

Farmers Fayre is one of a few firms based at the business and events hub and Reece said continuing events at the showground were the reason some trade had remained.

"It is an event showground, so there are people coming to site at the moment, so it does mean we've got a bit of trade from that so it's not devastating us completely.

"But normally, school holidays, this would be one of our peak periods."

A HS2 Ltd spokesperson said: "We meet with Stoneleigh Business Park every month to discuss our construction programme and make every effort to plan road closures around their busy events schedule.

"The current road closure is in place until 30th August and we are on schedule to meet that commitment."

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