A new action group aimed at relieving pressure on inner city businesses in Newcastle will hopefully build a bridge between traders and decision-makers, an East End business owner says.
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The Newcastle Herald revealed on Monday that a group of the city's most successful independent business owners had formed Makers and Traders of Newcastle City, which aims to boost trade, prevent further closures and lobby for rent and rate reform.
It came the same day that results of the latest NSW Business Chamber quarterly survey were released, which showed business confidence had declined in the Hunter since the end of last year.
The formation of the action group comes off the back of independent data collected in Darby Street, which showed 15 businesses had closed or moved from the dining and retail strip in the past six months, foot traffic was down by 40 per cent and trade had slumped by 30 per cent.
The Falcon, a restaurant in Pacific Street near the Newcastle Beach light rail stop, has not experienced the fall in trade that others have seen in recent months.
But owner Mike Galvin said his business benefited from "a perfect storm" since opening last year and had been lucky on several fronts.
Opening near a light rail stop when construction of the network was nearly complete and securing a premises with reasonable rent has meant The Falcon has not experienced a slide.
Mr Galvin said the action group was "a great idea" given the gap many independent small business owners felt between themselves and the city's decision-makers.
"It would be rad to see that bridge built," he told the Newcastle Herald.
"I think it's the key to Newcastle's next step and beyond.
"By and large, I go to a cool city and go 'where are the cool bars? Where are the restaurants?' - I might have a look at a shop.
"The colour of a city is defined by the traders and makers."
Bec Bowie owns Estabar cafe opposite Newcastle Beach and was one of the founding members of Makers and Traders of Newcastle City.
"[We need to] be reframing what our actual experience is and just calling it as it is," she said.
"We are no longer a city where you can reliably pull up at the door of the shop you want to go to, nip in, get what you want and nip out.
"We are just not that city any more and that is OK, we've grown and we need to all change our behaviours and expectations as a result."
Ms Bowie said some small businesses that had not survived in Newcastle had added cultural value to the community and could not simply be judged on their financial worth.
"I don't think you can put a price on that," she said.
"I don't think it's necessary to lose those businesses and I feel like the connection and community you lose when you lose those businesses is a heavy loss."
Results of the NSW Business Chamber survey released on Monday showed that business confidence in Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Hunter Valley had dropped from "relatively strong" in December, 2018, to "below average" in July, 2019.
Hunter Business Chamber CEO Bob Hawes said the region had been bucking the statewide decline, but had now "come back to the pack".
Mr Hawes said it appeared "the negative sentiment is now having an impact in our region".
"The fact that business confidence has deteriorated strengthens the case for governments, particularly the NSW government, to get on with the delivery of infrastructure, especially infrastructure promised to regional NSW," he said.
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