A Ferndown fish and chip shop has closed doors after the construction of cycle lanes was blamed for killing business.

Ferndown Fish and Chips in Wimborne Road East has reportedly been forced to close after a year of bad business created by the construction of cycle lanes. 

Store owner, Tony Doyle, 54, bought the store in May 2022 and had 11 months of good business before cycle lane construction began. 

He said: "I was making a profit and then roadwork started. Business takings were down 40 per cent during that period.

"I had good customers and really nice people who would phone me and say 'Tony, we can't come, it's taken us 40 minutes to get home'."

Tony had spent months of savings to buy the shop with help from a friend but has now been left with debt following its closure in June.

He stated he had hoped he could retire in the shop and had looked forward to 'happy days and a quiet pace of life'. 

He said: "I'd done about six months on the film set so it was a really good wage and I had saved a bit and put it down on a shop. I thought 'this will do me until I retire'. 

"I'm in debt now because of the VAT and electrical and I couldn't save it by the end and the locals would just avoid it like the plague."

The store had also been a way for him to bond with his daughter and help her during Covid. 

Not coping too well with Tony working in London, the shop helped him be around for her and lift her mental health. 

He said: "She was 14 when it was Covid and I was going up to London and she didn't cope too well. We only live next door so I thought if I can get this she can come to help in the shop with me.

"It helped her and her mental health and she taught the kids how to do the job and look after the till side of it while I was cooking."

Dorset Council explained that national governmental legislation gives no right in law that businesses should have passing trade and that businesses must make the efforts to mitigate losses.

It continued that 'long-term gains for the community should be offset by any short-term disruption' and believes it will be of 'huge benefit to Ferndown in the future'.

A spokesperson for Dorset Council said: "This concern relates to works that finished in November last year.

"At no point was the road fully closed excluding three non-consecutive week-long periods for overnight works starting at 8pm, with only one lane closure, traffic management in place at all times, and numerous routes available for customers to reach the premises."