For months, construction on busy Texas 26 in Colleyville has slowed traffic and drastically reduced the number of customers visiting restaurants and stores in construction zones.
City leaders and business owners have worked to entice consumers to continue visiting, but fears became a reality when at least two restaurants were forced to close or relocate.
The Londoner English Pub tried to stay afloat, but found that slowing number of customers was too much.
“Being over there in an empty bar and just wondering where the regulars are, wondering what happened to the Happy Hour,” managing partner Matthew Tate said. “It was frustrating and extremely boring."
After five years at the location they had to call it quits and relocate to a new location on Texas 121. Tate explained the entrance to their restaurant moved five times as construction continued.
"People kept having trouble finding our entrance. It kept changing,” Tate said. “People just generally started avoiding the road in general. Rush hour was a mess."
He said profits dropped drastically ranging from 20 percent to 45 percent as construction continued. To keep the bar and wait staff employed during the move, those employees are helping with the renovation process. Tate says the new location will be ready to open by late November.
Tate said he hopes the other businesses have better luck surviving during the construction.
"Hang in there. You don't want to have fought the fight this long and then somebody come in and buy the property and [construction is] done in a year and it's a hot spot again," Tate said.
Another business that could not survive is Teddy’s Bigger Burgers, which closed its doors last week. Owner Brad Cypert said the restaurant was open for around three years and was doing well before the construction started. He said sales dropped 40 percent to 50 percent with a loss of $20,000 in the first month of construction.
The City of Colleyville gave gift cards to residents and grants for advertising to affected businesses in an attempt to spur commerce in the corridor of construction.
