Salisbury’s streets are full of police ...and almost empty of shoppers
On any normal day, Crystals would be full of shoppers keen to pick up a ring, bracelet or necklace as a gift. It is one of several small, family owned shops in Salisbury’s Maltings shopping centre.
However, these are not normal times and now, nearly three weeks after the assassination attempt on Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, just yards away, Crystals can count customers with their fingers. On Sunday, it had just six visitors, rising to nine on Monday.
“A lot of the locals are still really worried about going ‘over there’, by which they mean anywhere near the scene of the attack,” said Lucy Reeves, 21, Crystals’ assistant manager. “The police cordons don’t help of course.”
Even Salisbury Cathedral has found it is not immune. Visitor numbers have fallen by a third.
Dr Robert Titley, Canon Treasurer of the cathedral, said: “We now need to show our resilience, tackle the economic repercussions as a community and rebuild trust in our environment. The cathedral has stood for nearly 800 years as a witness to God’s love in the face of the best and worst that humankind can do, and it will continue to do so.”
It was in an attempt to try to do something about the impact of the attack on Salisbury’s shops and businesses that Wiltshire county council yesterday took the step of scrapping parking charges from Saturday until further notice.
They had previously rejected calls to do this, but eventually relented after pressure from John Glen, MP for Salisbury, and following an angry public meeting last week, where the issue seemed to trouble those who attended more than the rising tensions between Britain and Russia.
The decision followed what was a less than reassuring interview with Neil Bashu, Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism, about the progress of the investigation.
“This is going to be frustrating for people,” he said. “It is going to take weeks, possibly months to do this.”
Shortly after he spoke, hardwood sheeting was placed over the windows and forbidding steel barriers erected around the back of The Mill pub, which was visited by the Skripals shortly before they succumbed to the Russian-made nerve agent on Sunday, March 4 – a visual reminder, if any were needed, of the near-permanent state of the hunt for their attackers.
Adding to the sense of foreboding was a visit yesterday to the Mill and the Zizzi restaurant – where the Skripals ate before they collapsed – by inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, who the day before had carried out tests on samples from these sites at the Ministry of Defence research facility nearby at Porton Down.
Over the past two weeks as many as 24 separate locations have been cordoned off, with police officers in
‘Usually a crime scene is sealed off for a few days or a week, not months… we need to know what the plan is’
chemical protection suits removing vehicles which may have come into contact with the Skripals’ car, and as a result the nerve agent, forcing drivers on long detours. With each day, traders and residents grow more frustrated.
“Tourism is the lifeblood of Salisbury and that’s been cut off since the attack,” said Hugh Blackbourne, who runs the Culture Coffee café.
“Usually a crime scene is sealed off for a few days or a week, not months. If that’s going to be the case we need to know what the authorities’ plan is.”
In the Maltings, the bench where the Skripals were found is still covered in a forensics tent. One flower seller trading yards from the spot, which grim-humoured locals have taken to calling the “bench of death”, complained to customers that he had lost £9,000 on Mother’s Day alone because of the drop in footfall.
Similarly there’s been little to celebrate at Party Seasons, which has seen a 50 per cent drop in takings. Berenice Marsh, 52, the manager, said: “It’s been terrible. We are suffering and the rest of Salisbury is suffering.”
Traders at the Maltings are now planning a street fair, offering vouchers and raffle prizes, to draw shoppers back.
There is one sector, however, which has thrived as a result of one of the most wide-ranging investigations in modern British policing.
Salisbury’s hotels and guest houses have seen an influx of hundreds of police officers drafted in from the Metropolitan Police and county forces.
In the evenings the bars of the hotels around the walls of the cathedral precinct are packed with off-duty officers, recuperating from the task of examining potentially hazardous sites, or manning road blocks night and day, frequently in freezing temperatures.
For all the despondency that hangs in the air there is a determination among the people of Salisbury not to let whoever targeted their city have the final say. “Salisbury is an attractive city…and I’m sure we’ll pull back from this. If Zizzi’s ever reopens I’ll be the first to go back and eat there, just to show them,” said Jean-luc Thiebaut, 38, a software developer.