Restaurants claim business was badly affected by event

RESTAURANT and cafe owners in Cardiff say their businesses were badly affected by the Champions League final in Cardiff.

Tens of thousands of football fans, media organisations, corporate sponsors and their guests descended on the city for the biggest game in club sport.

But what was expected to be a financial boost for local, independent businesses turned out to be the opposite for many, who were left counting the cost of Cardiff hosting the prestigious event.

One popular city centre lunch spot said it had been its “poorest three days’ trading in years”.

No-show bookings and fencing in the city centre are among the reasons flagged up for poor trading.

Russell Adam Bullimore, owner of Bully’s in Pontcanna, said PepsiCo, a major Champions League sponsor, had booked a table on Friday night but not turned up. Although the table was only for five people, Bully’s is a small restaurant.

PepsiCo said the company would “not be providing a comment on the booking”.

Stressing he backed major events being held in Cardiff, Russell said it has been a difficult time for the restaurant with bookings falling through.

“What you get with events like this is that big parties – from companies, for example, who have come over to watch the match – will book a table ahead of visiting,” Russell said.

“If a party of 30 books, that’s practically the size of the entire restaurant.”

He said no-shows meant extra staff being hired for no reason and food going to waste.

“I have nothing against Cardiff hosting events like the Champions League at all,” he said.

“It’s great for the city – it puts Cardiff on the map. I just wish people would tell us they’re not going to make it.

He also said it was tough for the restaurant to chase deposit payments from parties visiting from abroad.

John Cook, the owner of Arbennig restaurant across the road from Bully’s tweeted on Friday: “We’ve been rinsed today with more than 30 no-shows over lunch. Why do we bother?”

He said: “It’s just frustrating more than anything else. Events like this are great for Cardiff, and I fully support them. It’s just a shame that we suffer. It should be a time when businesses like us thrive. But what can we do? I don’t know what the answer is.”

At Bombers Sandwich House in the city centre, owner Rhys Harris was expecting a bumper weekend. One of his businesses is just a few metres from the stadium.

But Bombers, a hugely popular lunchtime sandwich shop, said they had seen their “poorest three days’ trading in years”.

Writing on Twitter, the shop said it thought “locals stayed away” and there were fewer workers in the city centre because “offices told people to have the day off on Friday”.

Rhys said: “Friday we were massively down on sales. Admiral, Legal & General and Hugh James had all told their staff to work from home or other offices on advice they had been given.

“They were told staff would be ID’d and searched so on Friday a lot of our regulars stayed away. It was not managed well.”

And it didn’t fare better on Saturday for the popular sandwich shop. Rhys says he was down £1,500 to £2,000 down on a normal weekend.

“The council told us it was going to brilliant,” he added.

“But it turned out to be anything but. I would make more on a Friday night game of rugby between Wales and Japan or a concert at the CIA [Motorpoint Arena].”

A restaurant in Cardiff Bay has also been left angry at the impact.

Margaret Studt, owner of Demiros, says she is furious. “We were the toilet,” she said. “The customers were only flushed past us on the way out when they had spent all their money and eaten.”

Ms Studt said the event did not just impact on this weekend.

“It has been a building site for weeks,” she adds. “It totally ruined our bank holiday as people stayed away because of the work going on with scaffolding etc.”

Nearby, Bills in Cardiff Bay said it took a third of what it expected to take on a normal Saturday.

“It was not as busy a normal Saturday,” said Matt Reed, assistant manager. “Due to road closures and people avoiding the area we had more Spanish and Italian people in than regular customers. People were not coming to the Bay.”

Problems were also being caused to rubbish collections in the city as the council dealt with “serious delays” caused by the Champions League final.

The authority said it is “working hard to catch up on general waste”.

A statement from Cardiff council read: “Unfortunately city centre road closures and increased security measures for the Champions League Final have had an impact on household recycling and waste collections.

“Delays are expected to continue throughout this week.

“Please accept our apologies and bear with us as all teams work hard to collect your waste”.

The council says any collections missed last week have now been cancelled and that “it is possible we may need to cancel some recycling collections this week”.