Local businesses feel the impact of tramworks in West End Taking a trip to the West End was off limits for months as a maze of barriers took over the road and pavements as work continued on the long-awaited trams project. If you wanted to pop to the bank or pick up a sandwich for lunch you had to negotiate the daily challenges in walking from one end to the other. We've heard from bars and shops, but how were the restaurants affected by the West End closure? The Edinburgh Larder opened their new West End bistro in June 2012 and the works affected the business to such an extent that they would have closed their doors, if it wasn't for their landlord. Owner Eleanor Cunningham explained: "We opened in June 2012 and it really impacted us. It's been a lot quieter than we expected since we opened and with the tramworks and the recession it's really hard. It's really tremendous the impact it's had on all the businesses, we had a meeting where people were saying sales had gone down 30% to 40%. Customers weren't willing to travel to the West End, it really became like a ghost town. Our landlord was great and really supportive with our rent rates, we couldn't have survived as a business otherwise. A Room in the West End also felt the effect of the tramworks, as co-owner Peter Knight explained: "It's been a pretty painful time. It felt like the area was closed up and we had a substantial decrease in our turnover to the extent it was down around 10% to 15% on average per month. The access has been very difficult and the biggest thing I've noticed is the office crowd have been missing. Usually between 5pm and 7pm we have a busy time and usually there were a lot of bus stops on the West End, but those all disappeared and we noticed a massive decrease in footfall which had a huge effect. But it's not been all doom and gloom for West End restaurants, as Roy King from Chop Chop explained, they escaped relatively unscathed. He said: "The immediate impact we had was the one-way street changing directions then becoming a two-way road. There wasn't much parking outside the restaurant anyway but it added to that. It's very difficult to gauge the effect of the trams on the business because the background to it all is the deepening recession. It's not had a negative effect on the businesses but I know it's affected others. We've not really experienced anything untoward. But now the barriers are down and the road is open, how are the businesses feeling about the future? Edinburgh Larder Eleanor said: "Everyone is really positive, we're hosting events to try and get people back into the area and it's really exciting. I think it will take quite a long time to get it back to what it was like, but it's great to get out there and remind people what the West End once was. A Room in the West End Peter said: "It might have been coincidental but our turnover has gone up for October and is like-for-like on last year, it's been a good few weeks in the grand scheme of things. I'm feeling more optimistic. It looks great and we are so happy to see the end of it all. Now it's clear we are feeling more positive. Chop Chop Roy said: "Our only hope is that it brings benefits to the area as it is really accessible now." What do you think of the West End?