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The busy M4 corridor has brought jobs and people to the Bridgend area - creating a demand for housing, school places and facilities.

Unemployment is low, at 2.1% in the Bridgend constituency, and the population of the council area is rising - up to 144,288 in the latest estimates.

Yet none of this seems to be helping the town centre of Bridgend itself where traders say they desperately lack shoppers and speak of their businesses of being crippled.

Some blame the pedestrianisation done around 15 years ago; others blame out of town shopping centres like McArthurGlen and the internet; many say business rates are crippling them.

There are some success stories with new bars like Corvo Lounge saying they are busy.

But with the number of empty units growing, there is no doubt that many traders are desperate, one even describes the town centre as a hellhole.

Dean Coleman has run electrical store Circuit on Nolton Street for five years.

The 35-year-old said: “I’m on my knees here and I’m not going to lie, I don’t know how long I have left here.

“I can’t afford the business rates. It’s crippling independent business owners like myself. After you’ve paid your rent and your rates and your suppliers, what do you have left?”

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Mr Coleman said he has fallen behind on paying his rates because they are too expensive. He has now accepted the fact his time on Nolton Street could be limited.

“Nobody can afford to run a business here and it’s sad because this is my home,” he said.

“When I was growing up it was bustling. There were shops for everyone. You had three or four butchers, a fishmonger, bakeries, Woollies and the markets.

“I remember walking through the town when I was little and it was scary because there were just so many people.

“Now it’s a hellhole. There is nothing here.”

Market traders Peter and Tim Wood run Peter Wood and Sons butchers in the indooor market in the Rhiw Shopping Centre.

Peter set up the business in the 70s and and now it's run by son Tim, who said the impact out of town shopping centres such as McArthurGlen have on the town centres can't be ignored.

He said he has seen fewer people shopping at the indoor market over the years and thinks it's hard for town centres to compete with the likes of McArthurGlen - which offers free parking, is open later and has all the retail stores in one place.

Peter, who now works part-time at the butchers stall, said a rise in big supermarkets has also led to a decline in people who shop locally.

He said: "People used to come to the market to buy their meat, their bread and their fish.

"Now they can get it all in one place and the big supermarkets are able to reduce their prices. I think that has had a big impact but I don't think we can go back to how it was before."

Another reason given by traders is pedestrianisation, which was completed in Bridgend in 2004.

BCBC carried out phase one in 2002 which saw the pedestrianisation of Caroline Street, Wyndham Street and Adare Sreet. In 2004, the second phase was completed, affecting Queen Street, Dunraven Place and Market Street.

Since then traffic has only able to pass through these areas before 10am and after 6pm.

Freya Sykes-Bletsoe, owner of Ella Riley’s Traditional Sweets in Nolton Street, is one of the independent traders backing plans to reverse parts of the pedestrianisation.

She said that with the rise in internet shopping, the majority of their orders come from online shoppers.

She said: “It's awful. The town centre is just awful and it's been like this probably since the late 90s.

"If you’re a local business which trades online as we do you have to send your parcels either after 6pm or before 10am and that’s not always possible so it can cause delays in delivery.

“When the barriers are you can’t ship your parcels unless you have access to the road. Luckily, we do so we can load up outside the shop, but the majority of traders in this area don’t.

“It makes trading online really difficult.”

But Mrs Sykes-Bletsoe says that it isn’t just online trading that is affected and says she is worried about how it affects people with mobility issues who rely on vehicles for their everyday needs, such as shopping.

“It means the town centre is not accessible for the elderly or the less-abled,” she continued.

“Before the pedestrianisation, you were able to get right up to the shops and now you can’t. You could drive into town, go where you needed to go and leave. Now you can’t and it makes it that much more difficult for the less abled.

“We need footfall, the town needs the footfall. Things aren’t going to get any better unless people can easily get into and around the town centre, and for that we need traffic.”

(Image: Glamorgan Gazette)

Like Ms Sykes-Bletsoe, many town centre businesses have long campaigned for cars to be allowed back into the bottom part of town to boost trade.

In 2016 a half-a-million-pound scheme to reverse pedestrianisation was backed by the public in a bid to boost town centre shopping.

Almost eight out of ten people supported the plan for Queen Street, Dunraven Place and Market Street to be open to traffic.

But despite plans being given support more than two years ago, shovels still haven’t been put into the ground.

Councillor Charles Smith, cabinet member for education and regeneration, said: “I think people often forget what the town centre was like before pedestrianisation was introduced – it was clogged with traffic, the pavements were jammed and the majority of on-street parking spaces were largely taken not by shoppers, but by people who were working in the town centre all day or using the nearby train and bus stations.

“I also think it is easy to blame something like pedestrianisation while ignoring the massive impact that national changes in the UK retail market or the rise of online shopping have had on town centres all throughout the country.

“That said, we are actively pursuing plans to partially restore vehicle access from Queen Street through Market Street. This requires external funding and the development process, which involves the Welsh Government, is ongoing.”

But there are success stories. Corvo Lounge, part of The Loungers group, opened on Adare Street in July 2017.

Corvo Lounge, which is part of the same group that operates café bars in Penarth, Cardiff and Swansea, replaced the historic former Victoria Inn.

The site was redeveloped over 18 months thanks to money from the Heritage Lottery Fund and organised by the council.

Its general manager Ryan Horton said that since the restaurant opened, footfall has continued to grow and customers now travel from out of town to visit.

Mr Horton said: "When we first opened some people were saying 'oh we won't last' but we've continued to grow. Weekends are always really busy for us, but we're busy on weekdays too.

"I'm not from Bridgend, I've been here for about four years but I think this is something the area was lacking. We have a gluten free and vegan menu too, which I think attracts a lot of customers.

"A lot of our customers are locals, so we must be doing something right.

"I think we've been so successful because of the staff. They're a credit to themselves."

Cllr Smith said: "We work with property owners to develop and enhance buildings to make the overall shopping environment more attractive to brand-name investors and shoppers alike.

"We actively encourage all types of business to invest in the area, and also use initiatives such as the Vibrant and Viable Places programme to develop a community of people living at the heart of the town centre where they can support local trade.”

Bridgend BID manager Justin Jenkins has said the organisation is committed to improving the town centre and encouraging more people to visit and spend money, which would provide a much needed boost to the town centre.

Mr Jenkins said the BID hosts various events throughout the year - such as the Christmas markets - and works alongside the local authority to deliver what residents and traders want.

The BID also released a Bridgend Gift Card to try and encourage residents to shop locally.