Florence Pugh’s father hits out at low traffic neighbourhood scheme as his cafe closes

Florence Pugh’s father has hit out at a local low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) scheme after his café was forced to close.

Clinton Pugh, who owns businesses across the bustling student area of Cowley Road in Oxford, slammed the East Oxford LTN, which was first introduced as part of a trial by Oxfordshire County Council in May 2022.

The scheme has seen the introduction of three LTNs in Cowley, located in Temple Cowley, Church Cowley, and Florence Park, and three in the Divinity Road, St Clement’s, and St Mary’s areas of East Oxford.

Aiming to limit traffic across towns and city centres, the plans often see drivers prevented from using quiet residential roads as through-routes.

"It has become more difficult to get here, people just don’t come”, Mr Pugh told Sky News. “The losses have been so high that I have lost a site”, he added, referring to the closure of Café Tarifa.

"You can’t get staff, they can’t get home or they have to have taxis. The cost of these things is just astronomical and people don’t want to work.

"Tradesmen can’t come because it takes too long to get here.

"They are acting like they are dictators. This is the problem. It’s their idea. They’ve asked us for our opinion and they are not listening.”

In an Instagram post shared in April 2022 by the business’s account (@cafetarifacowleyroad), Florence Pugh can be seen drying glasses at an after-party dubbed a “family affair.”

Mr Pugh also owns restaurants Café Coco and Kazbar, having told Oxford Mail in May 2023 that before Café Tarifa was repossessed, he was in the process of selling a lease for the bar and had received an offer of £100,000.

Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak has ordered a review of the rollout of LTNs following backlash from the Conservative Party.

Mr Sunak told The Telegraph: “The vast majority of people in the country use their cars to get around and are dependent on their cars. When I’m lucky enough to get home to North Yorkshire it’s more representative of how most of the country is living, where cars are important.

“I just want to make sure people know that I’m on their side in supporting them to use their cars to do all the things that matter to them.”

MPs on the party’s right have urged Mr Sunak to rethink its policy on net zero, with Conservative MP Nick Fletcher dubbing the plans part of an “international socialist concept.”