BUSINESSES under the city’s railway arches are desperate for a set of gates to be opened to allow for an increase in footfall, said a micro pub owner.

Mike Davis opened The Arch Rivals pub and brewery, in Netherton Court, Worcester, in September and said premises owners Network Rail promised the gates behind The Hive would be open by the end of that month.

“Obviously, it’s now Christmas and it’s still closed,” said the 37-year-old. “As far as I could work out, everyone was okay with it – Network Rail said it was fine, the council said it was fine, the university said it was fine, but they don’t seem to have done anything about it.”

He said: “It’s really difficult to understand who owns the gates and who owns the land, because it’s kind of a very conjoined bit of Worcester.

“Network Rail own up to a certain point, the university own up to a certain point, the Hive and the council are involved somewhere along the line as well. It’s a bit complex,” said Mr Davis.

Other businesses along the strip include The Burger Shop, Method Coffee Roasters, Fit3Sixty Rise gym and Print & Design – all of whom Mr Davis said are equally as frustrated in what he called the “forgotten end of town”.

Customers regularly walk up to the gates from the wrong side and are confused about how to access the strip or coming from the other way, see it as a dead end, explained Mr Davis.

“Every day I have three or four customers telling me I should get those gates opened – and I’m having to tell them every time, I’d love to,” he continued.

“The guys along here all say it would make such a difference to have footfall and make people more aware there’s things going on in this area – which at the moment is certainly my biggest struggle because I’m in a dead-end effectively.

“Having nobody walk past your front door everyday does make it very hard to run a business – it’s an ongoing saga.

“People coming here are coming for a particular reason, rather than just being able wander past.”

The business owner said he understands the sticking point from The Hive’s perspective is the health and safety aspect.

He said he was told the long-term plan is to remove the gates, but for the time being would be happy for just one side to be unbolted if needs be, to prevent cars driving up it.

“It just makes so much more sense and it would open Worcester up – not just from a business point of view,” said Mr Davis.

“It’d be a great cut through, it’s so much quicker than walking around up The Butts or Castle Street.”

He described the strip as also a “great, secure area” for students to walk through when going to The Hive and St Johns and back, as well as for people going to work.

In October, the city council announced its City Centre Masterplan, which aims to create a mixture of news homes, offices, restaurants, bars and shops – creating 8,000 more jobs and build 3,000 homes by 2040.

Mr Davis said: “The Masterplan has the railway arches as the primary focus and the plans for down here are amazing – and if that continues to follow through it would be great.

“The simplest start to that project is to open some gates and allow people to walk past.”

Mr Davis runs the pub and brewery alone having put “everything I’ve got into getting the place up and running” – having worked previously as a warehouse and operations manager.

“I’ve got a wife and two kids, and it affected me at home and I said ‘enough is enough’, it’s time to do something I enjoy and try something for myself.”

He said new pubs opening in the city is a rarity and “when people don’t know you exist, it’s even more difficult”.

“It’s a really cool feature place, all the arches, all the potential and the plan is to pedestrianise this completely, and hopefully more businesses can come and we can make it a real venue for Worcester.

“Every where’s done it, Manchester and London, they’ve all got these great businesses under the arches and Worcester’s a bit slow off the mark.

“But it’s got potential.”

A spokeswoman for The Hive said: “Both the county council and university strongly support the increased usage of the arches by independent businesses who make such a positive contribution to Worcester.

“The university and county council are working with Worcester City Council and other partners to ensure all appropriate measures are in place before the gates are opened to provide a safe route for pedestrians along the path.”

A spokesman for the city council said there is an “aspiration” in the draft city centre masterplan to “have the arches fully open” but has “not yet been adopted”.

Network Rail was unavailable for comment when approached by the Worcester News.