This Chester-Le-Street Landlord has to bring people to his own pub by car because of the GoNorthEast Strike

A Chester-Le-Street pub landlord is facing losses of £2000 per day because of the GoNorthEast strike destroying his customer base, forcing him to bring his customers himself, by car.

Chester-Le-Street has been one of the hardest hit towns from the GoNorthEast indefinite strike. That’s because it has effectively no public transport whatsoever, having been wholly reliant on their buses.

While Sunderland has Stagecoach, Northern Rail and Metros, towns like this in County Durham have nothing which has had devastating effects on local businesses, making it impossible for those without a car to get to the town centre.

One cafe has reported losses of £200 each day because of the strike. While Glen Sutherland, landlord of the Market Tavern, is in an even worse situation and has had to resort to desperate measures to keep his pub afloat, which involves bringing his customers himself by giving them lifts. For him, he says it’s the worst situation they’ve faced since covid.

Yet Chester-Le-Street isn’t the only town where the bite of the strike is being felt. Other areas such as Houghton and Washington, amongst scores of other settlements, will all be in the same situation.

Throughout this week and last week, talks between GoNorthEast drivers, represented by UNITE, and their employer, have repeatedly broken down, with the employees rejecting an increased pay rise of 10%, calling it “insulting.” The lasting damage however has prompted increased calls for political intervention, with the North East Transport boss Martin Gannon having written to the government and asked them to intervene.