BRING it.
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For better or worse, just bring it.
That’s the sentiment from Newcastle businesses who will trade during the inaugural three-day V8 Newcastle 500 SuperCars race.
Many of the small businesses within the race track zone or just outside admit they don’t know what they are up against. Regardless, by and large, they are gearing up for the event with all the resources they can muster.
Customs House owner Gabrielle McCabe said her pub was treating the event “a bit like Melbourne Cup” and had sold out ticketed events on Saturday and Sunday for a seated lunch and six-hour beverage package.
The pub has hired extra freezers, refrigeration and deep fryers for catering and boosted staffing.
“Because of the accessibility being awkward you have to stock up on everything beforehand but a lot of the suppliers have been accommodating and have said if we don’t use stock they will take it back, so everyone is working very well together,” Mrs McCabe said.
She was optimistic about the event outcome having worked to streamline her operations and not bite off more than staff could chew.
“I don’t really know how it will be, it’s a stab in the dark,” she said. “The biggest problem we have, which might sound funny, is ice cubes. Because it’s something we can’t always make enough of, we’ve hired a cool room for backup.”
Just up the road, 23Hundred cafe owner Peter Johnston said his cafe would open as usual at 530am but trade a little longer until 4pm during the event.
Mr Johnston slammed the decisions by Newcastle City Council and authorities that allowed three major infrastructure works – Bathers Way upgrade, the Light Rail and the SuperCars track work – to happen at once.
“I support progress and improvements to town but to put SuperCars on top of the other two works is totally inappropriate,” he said, adding that the traffic disruption and diversions had caused traffic jams and been a general deterrant for people coming in to the area.
“[Interim Newcastle City Council CEO] Jeremy Bath says parking is the number one problem in town and council is trying to fix it; I can assure him the biggest problem is traffic congestion ... There is plenty of parking but no-one is coming.”
Mr Johnston said once the event was over, businesses hoped there be a downturn in traffic problems,adding the Supercars had been promoted as a spectacle “but the vision is from a helicopter; it’a a beautiful area and they have made it a fenced off, jail-like area.”
He also rejected the notion that businesses would recoup any previous losses from track work diversions and disruptions over the event weekend.
“We are 40 per cent down in turnover and the flow on to our suppliers is another issue: our milkman is down 40 per cent, so is our coffee supplier, so are our staffing levels,” he said.
“We can’t do 200 per cent more than normal because we don’t have staff to do that nor do we have the capacity in our small shop.”
Mr Bath said authorities could not bring forward the best part of $20 million in capital works by several years and not have an adverse impact on at least some small businesses.
"Fortunately the work is now finished and our small businesses are starting to see the benefits from the incredible transformation of Newcastle East,” he said.
“Streets are this week packed with visitors and I'm expecting this to continue throughout summer courtesy of the restored Shortland Esplanade at Newcastle Beach which precedes the final stages of the Bathers Way.”
Newcastle 500 event manager Kurt Sakzewski said the idea of the Supercars event was to promote Newcastle and the benefits it brings to the city “as a whole”.
“There are businesses around the East End that we talk to that know they’re not going to necessarily get an uplift from the event weekend, but they can know it’s great for the city itself, and for that reason they are backing it,” he said.
Perennial dining favourite Scotties, in Scott Street, is closed Friday to Sunday but across the road Sticky Rice restaurant will open. Its manager, Metus Sattachaiporn, has put on extra wait staff, doubled food stocks and tripled drink supplies because of access difficulty during the race. The restaurant has also set up a new hot food tray for takeaways and will trade from mid-morning to late.
He said SuperCars organisers said they would provide ear plugs for staff but he was unsure how bad the noise would be. In case it exceeds his expectations, he has put big signage on the new food tray, so customers can point to their order.
Dan Power, whose local company Traffic Power has overseen a portion of traffic management through the SuperCars civil works program and circuit build, said the company had 26 staff prior to winning the race contract, and had since employed an extra 40 casual staff from the local area.
“It has instantly doubled the turnover of my business in a year and boosted it to what looks like a successful little company,” he said.
Honeysuckle Hotel licensee Sean Turnbull said despite the “unknown factor” of event, he had doubled staff and stock and boosted security and entertainment.
“We are not on the track but because a lot of the accommodation is around here we are expecting extra foot traffic,” he said.
Blooms on Darby co-owner Melissa Hart said her Cooks Hill florist opened Saturday and until 1pm on Sunday, but she doubted the event would boost trade.
“We have have three weddings on the weekend which will be a nightmare driving around and getting to locations but I think it will be quiet,” she said, adding that despite the traffic inconvenience she was in favour of more tourism.
Angela Hailey, of Studio Melt in the Hunter Street mall, said business had been “dead as a dodo” in the week before the event but she had increased staff for the weekend. She attributed the lack of people in the city to the public works cited by Mr Johnston: “It’s too hard for people to get into the CBD so they have given it away temporarily, although ironically the parking is quite good. It’s a perfect storm of too many things at once.”
