South Yorkshire Times, April 25th, 1970
Mexborough Relief Road
What’s three quarters of a mile long, 24 feet wide and cost over a million-and-a-half pounds? There can be few Mexborough people who don’t know the answer, but just what effect has the town’s costliest ever improvement scheme – the construction of the long-awaited and much-debated relief road – had on the people who are probably most affected by it, the shoppers and the traders.
The idea of a relief road to eliminate congestion in the town’s busy High Street was bandied around by various local bodies for years, but the news that work was to start on the scheme way back in April 1968, was greeted with somewhat mixed feelings.
Predictions
Some shop-keepers saw it, if not as the panacea of all ills, then at least as a potential source of increased trade, at a time when they were undoubtedly feeling the pinch of the high levels of local unemployment. Others were not so optimistic. Some predicted little change, while a minority even talked of Mexborough being cut off the map by the road, with potential customers by-passing the town centre on their way to Doncaster.
Most people, in fact, could only speculate on the eventual outcome, but the West Riding County Council and Mexborough Urban Council were sufficiently convinced of the merits of the scheme to sanction the demolition of 195 houses, a factory, fire-station, police-station and two places of worship to make way for the road.
As work on the road progressed, occasional outbursts from the sceptics who prophesied that Mexborough would become a virtual “ghost town” with tumble-weed blowing down a deserted High Street in typical movie-fashion, were countered by more optimistic Mexbronians, who cited similar sized towns, notably Wetherby, where the diversion of heavy traffic had actually stimulated trade.
For better or worse the road was officially opened just over a month ago, with an assurance from the County Council Chairman Ald. Major J. H. Hudson that trade, and the lot of the shopper, would improve. The sentiments of Major Bruce Eccles (“for this relief much thanks”) were echoed by all who had had occasion to risk their lives in the confusion of High Street on a Saturday morning, and we sat back and waited to see how the new arrival would affect us.
We didn’t have to wait long. The effect was immediately obvious to anyone who used to run the gauntlet of a crowded High Street on market day, either as a pedestrian dodging motorists or vice versa.
The relief road has led to a completely new breed of shoppers in the town. People can stop and peer in leisurely fashion into shop windows. The art of the window-dresser no longer passes unnoticed in the battle for survival. Shopping in Mexborough has become luxurious. From what must have been one of the most congested High Streets in the country, Mexborough must now have one of the quietest for a town of its size. Even people who did not know the old, cannot fail to appreciate the new.
A Far Cry
The effect is at first unnerving. One immediately becomes aware of an almost unnatural shortage of vehicles in High Street, Bank Street and Main Street and the casual pace at which people do their shopping is a far cry from the days when it was an ordeal to be endured, rather than a pleasure to be enjoyed.
Few people in Mexborough can complain that they have not benefited from the relief road. It has made shopping safer, more comfortable, and so much more enjoyable. But what of the shopkeepers and the effect on trade? High Street tobacconist Mr. R. Hillberby said the road had given rise to a much-needed boost to the town’s trade. “Over the last twelve months we have really been hit by price maintenance, but the new road seems to have led to some improvement, with more people coming into the town to shop now that conditions are so much better.” said Mr. Hillberby.
Relaxing
Some traders thought more people would go to Doncaster to do their shopping but this has not happened and I think we can hope for an even bigger improvement once the new road has become more established.
“The shopping centre is now so quiet that it is misleading as a guide to trade. At first, we thought fewer people were shopping in town, but in fact this was not true, it was just so much quieter and the shop windows and shelves are no longer rattling with the vibration of heavy vehicles.”
Mr. Hillberby said people could now shop on a Saturday in the same relaxing conditions as they would expect on a quiet Tuesday. “The results have been very pleasing for shoppers and traders alike,” he added.
Mr. George Squires, vice-president of the Mexborough and District Chamber of Trade, and a Director of Madame Florence gown store, said it was still a little early from his point of view to tell just what effect the road had had on trade but he felt it would be of great benefit to shoppers.