A DALE businessman confirmed this week he will not be reopening his bar and restaurant as concerns grow about the future of Whorlton bridge.
Thomas Magnay and his wife, Nicola, have been running the popular eaterie, Fernaville’s Rest at Whorlton for the past four-and-a-half years. However the closure Whorlton Bridge to vehicles a month ago has had a devastating effect on his business.
Last week Mr Magnay told the Teesdale Mercury takings had dropped off by 50 per cent since the bridge closure to enable major safety defects to be repaired.
However, he confirmed on Friday, September 13, that he will not reopen the inn and will now be concentrating his efforts on his new eaterie at Catterick Garrison.
He said: “I’ve been overat the new place this week, but Nicola has been at Whorlton and there has been no one coming into the village. No one is passing and we just had to make the decision.
“If we couldn’t sustain the business in what should have been our busy period then there would be no hope in the quieter months.”
Mr Magnay added all but one of his staff will be joining him at his new restaurant, D’Antonio’s. He added: “There is only one member of staff who is not coming to the new place as they felt it was going to be too far to travel.”
The bridge, which is grade II-listed, was closed to traffic in July. It is expected to take a year to complete the safety repairs. The bridge remains open to pedestrians and cyclists and a detour is in place for motorists, advising they use Winston bridge, some three miles south.
Mark Readman, Durham County Council’s highways services manager, said: “We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the closure of Whorlton suspension bridgeto vehicular traffic.
“However, we had to take this action in the interest of public safety.
“Inspections by our engineers identified a critical safety defect and because the element that failed is made from the same material as the other suspension chain links, we have to eliminate the risk of further failure.
“We are now working with Historic England to fully assess the condition of the other suspension chain links.
“Once this is complete, we can develop a repair scheme and apply for scheduled ancient monument consent and set a start date for the major repair work to commence.
“This could result in the bridge being closed to vehicles for up to 12 months and a seven-mile diversion will be in place during this time. The bridge remains open to pedestrians and cyclists and we are hopeful that any repairs carried out will allow us to reopen the bridge to vehicles.
“We would like to thank the public for their patience and understanding during this time.”
