Closed street car-free and carefree
The closure of upper Trafalgar Street over summer has been an almost unanimous hit.
Turning the area into a pedestrian zone made the area ‘‘cosmopolitan’’, ‘‘relaxing’’, and ‘‘social’’, according to dozens of comments on the city council’s call for feedback. There were even calls for the closure to be made permanent.
Doti Young, at the Crema Coffee Cart, said she hadn’t worked there previous years, but her instinct was that the closure would have improved business.
‘‘There’s so many people around, it’s much more social,’’ she said.
‘‘There’s European studies that show areas not populated by vehicles are populated by people, and you look around and see it’s true.’’
The owner of The Vic Mac’s Brewbar, Phil Williams, said the street being closed ‘‘worked really well’’.
Aside from a few small issues like needing more staff, and the initial investment required, he said there had been almost no negatives.
‘‘The customer feedback we hear is that everyone loves it,’’ he said.
He said the open space gave the city a square where people could be outside, which otherwise was a bit lacking.
‘‘It’s not even about the businesses, people can come from somewhere else and bring a coffee and have a business meeting, like in so many other cities around the world,’’ he said.
Williams said there were still some things to work on, assuming the trial run continued next summer, but he said he would be happy with the closure being a permanent feature.
‘‘In terms of it being a trial run, there’s a still few things to nut out, but otherwise it’s been really good,’’ he said.
Rebecca Gale, who lived in Nelson a few years ago, said she was ‘‘glad they had finally done it’’.
‘‘It gives the place a heartbeat,’’ she said.
‘‘I remember that 16 years ago they were talking about doing it, and people always said ‘yes, do it and people will come’, and now they’ve done it and the people have come.’’
‘‘I love all the flower baskets and things they’ve put up, as well, that’s all new and it all just adds vitality and vibrancy to the place,’’ Gale said.