Businesses face ‘ghost town’ isolation after M25 closure

THE weekend closure of part of the M25 left a Surrey golf club a “ghost town”, amid warnings of further disruption from future planned shutdowns of the motorway.

A five-mile stretch of London’s orbital motorway between junctions 10 and 11 was closed in both directions between Friday night and Monday morning while a bridge was demolished and a new gantry installed.

It was the first daytime closure of the M25 since it was opened in 1986. There were tailbacks of up to two miles, while businesses suffered as thousands of motorists heeded official advice and stayed at home.

Silvermere Golf Club, a plush 18-hole course near Cobham just off the M25, lost an estimated £50,000 over the weekend as its normally bustling complex was left largely empty.

“It was a ghost town today,” said Terry Sims, 52, the managing director of Silvermere. “It seems that a lot of people stayed away – we were 45 per cent down in the restaurant and 43 per cent down in retail... There was a period of time where basically nobody came in.”

He added that with four more daytime closures of the M25 planned up to

September, “it will be between £250,000 to £300,000 turnover off our line if it’s a ghost town”.

Mr Sims said that traffic issues in the area have been “a growing issue over the last five to eight years” around junction 10 and a major conference provider had already pulled out of hosting events at Silvermere as a result, leading to a loss of £3,500 a month in income.

The point where the M25 intersects with the A3 is one of Britain’s busiest and most dangerous motorway junctions, with one of the highest rates of traffic accidents across the National Highways network.

The Telegraph understands that other nearby businesses along the diversion route also suffered as a result of the weekend shutdown. Mark Pollak, owner of Billy Tong, which caters for events and sells biltong at markets, told the PA news agency that he expects to see 50 per cent of the firm’s turnover for the weekend go “down the drain”.

Meanwhile, the Royal Horticultural Society’s flagship Wisley Gardens had advised would-be visitors to “allow a little extra time to complete your journey,” adding that a local bus service used by patrons would not be stopping at the gardens during the closure.

The next closure of the the M25’s south west quadrant is scheduled for the weekend of April 19-22.