£5k lost and '70 empty tables' as businesses battered by cost of 'don't drive' message

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Traffic chaos is being blamed for a vast number of cancellations at a top city centre restaurant over the weekend. Luxury Asian eatery KAJI on Bridge Street is one of scores of businesses hit by chaos following changes to the road scheme on Deansgate and surrounding routes.

As the MEN reported yesterday (December 16), a host of restaurants and bars in the area have struggled due to rush-hour gridlock over the past month.

Bosses at Kaji say they were battered by a crippling 70 cancellations after Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) issued a "do not drive into the city centre" warning due to the number of major music and football events taking place in the city on Saturday and Sunday.

The restaurant say cancellations of that scale mean they've been hit for around £5,000 of revenue. TfGM issued its traffic warning on social media on December 10 saying: "Please do not drive into the city centre this weekend.