Bumper summer trading on The Strand has convinced Tauranga restaurant owner John Harvey that changes in the street's hospitality layout are working.
It had been a long winter of discontent for The Strand and the rest of the Tauranga downtown's retailers - not helped by people curbing their spending in the
recession.
But Mr Harvey, who owns Amphora, said things had really turned around along The Strand since early December, with a "bumper" five weeks for most cafe and bar owners.
He put it down to the changes in the street layout, creating a much more relaxed area for patrons in the outdoor dining and drinking areas.
Cafe and bar owners have been given permanent exclusive use of their outdoor areas - not just from 4pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It meant the footpath around the perimeter of their outdoor licence areas had become a permanent feature of The Strand.
Mr Harvey said the talk among Strand businesspeople was that a lot of the customers were visitors.
The consensus now was to get rid of the concrete seats and for the footpath to be a covered boulevard.
The latest changes meant pedestrians were exposed to the weather, because the footpath no longer ran under verandahs.
Mr Harvey said Tauranga City Council should also look at making The Strand one-way.
Tauranga mayor Stuart Crosby said it was good to see that things were humming again on The Strand.
As for removing the street furniture, Mr Crosby said his goal was to make The Strand vibrant and safe. "Whatever we can do to achieve that must be looked at."
Mr Crosby said making The Strand one-way had been talked about a lot over the years, along with increasing the number of total road closures for special events.
