Eat Streat awning remotes back in the hands of businesses

051014bf13 Glad to get the remotes for the retracable awnings back is Solace manager Sandra Graetz 5 October 2014 Rotorua Daily Post Photograph by Ben Fraser

The remotes controlling the retractable awnings on Eat Streat have "finally" been returned to the Rotorua businesses "caught in the crossfire" of a contractual dispute.

Solace Cafe and Restaurant manager Sandra Graetz said the remotes were returned on Saturday morning.

"It's good to finally have them back. When it was raining we really wanted to use the awnings but we couldn't and as a result nobody could sit outside.

"There is limited seating inside so we potentially lost customers because we couldn't seat them outside."

Ms Graetz said having the remotes confiscated was "not a good look for the street".

"It was really unprofessional and made the whole street look bad. This whole disagreement had nothing to do with the businesses, we just got caught in the crossfire which wasn't really fair."

Almost a fortnight ago all but one remote controller used to operate the 12 retractable awnings on Eat Streat were confiscated by Sydney-based company GS World which said it would give them back when it was paid for its work.

GS World was employed by Eat Streat contractor Watts & Hughes Construction to install the awnings and said it took the remotes because Watts & Hughes had failed to pay. Watts & Hughes said there were issues that needed to be rectified before payment was made.

The dispute left businesses unable to operate their awnings with some of them considering legal action after losing patrons.

Ms Graetz said she hoped this was the end.

"The locals and tourists want to see everything in Eat Streat working and it is really disappointing when it's not so hopefully now things will start to run a bit more smoothly.