{"id":547869,"date":"2025-11-04T06:25:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T06:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/547869\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T06:25:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T06:25:29","slug":"they-are-insane-and-forced-a-barber-into-early-retirement-but-arent-going-away-any-time-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/547869\/","title":{"rendered":"They are ‘insane’ and forced a barber into early retirement, but aren’t going away any time soon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business owners say the roadworks are killing their trade – with one already closing up shop after 43 years<\/p>\n

06:01, 04 Nov 2025Updated 06:11, 04 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

(Image: Copyright Unknown)<\/p>\n

Long-running roadworks that \u2018forced a barber into early retirement\u2019 will now go on for months longer, council chiefs have confirmed.<\/p>\n

A project to install a bike lane across Ancoats and New Cross has brought disruption to traders and traffic on Oldham<\/a> Road, near its junction with Wing Yip, for most of this year.<\/p>\n

Local resident Chrisse Keener said the delay was \u2018insane\u2019, pointing out the original project dates at the Oldham Road\/Thompson Street junction were \u2018February to April 2025\u2019 – and will now be set to have lasted around a year from start to finish.<\/p>\n

The roadwork scheme has caused a \u2018drop-off\u2019 in trade for businesses, leading Jimmy Kennedy to close his barbershop, Kutters, in September after 43 years in business.<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting older, I was going to go until next year but I cannot fight this. I will lose the battle,\u201d the 67-year-old told the Local Democracy Reporting Service three weeks before closing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing nothing here, there\u2019s no passing trade. Clients are moaning there\u2019s no public transport because there\u2019s no bus stop open here, they have to get off at Butler Street or Oldham Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another barber two doors down, Ernest Armakpado, owner of Headmaster, also said his business was being \u2018murdered\u2019.<\/p>\n

The project to install a bike lane on Oldham Road in Manchester has now moved to parallel Rochdale Road(Image: Copyright Unknown)<\/p>\n

Now, Manchester council has confirmed the project, which was set to finish in November, will be completed months later than planned.<\/p>\n

Work has moved on to Rochdale<\/a> Road, near to the Marble Arch pub, a spokesperson said: \u201cAs with any major infrastructure project there are a number of factors which can impact the completion date.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to note that the majority of works have been completed in Oldham Road and Thompson Street, and improvement works have already started on Rochdale Road.<\/p>\n

Original signage at the Wing Yip junction said work would be completed by April 2025, Chrissie Keener said, with updated signs saying July(Image: Copyright Unknown)<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Northeast Gateway scheme, the council has always aimed for a completion date by the end of November, however, there have been a number of factors outside our control which have impacted its delivery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some issues with materials being sourced for the Oldham Road leg of the project, as well as some delays around essential utilities works. Works will also be scaled back during the Christmas<\/a> period \u2013 this happens every year as the council works to ensure that during the busiest period of the year, delays on the roads will be kept to a minimum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful for people\u2019s patience during this period and want to reassure residents and businesses that the council and its contractor is working hard to have this scheme completed by early 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business owners say the roadworks are killing their trade – with one already closing up shop after 43…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[8830,748,393,4884,2465,8086,8828,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-547869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-ancoats","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-city-centre","14":"tag-manchester-council","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115490005593566447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}