Monmouth’s historic Agincourt Square will be the next victim of the work schedule to replace the ageing Victorian water main throughout the town. 

The next phase of the planned Welsh Water work will begin in early July when the square will be closed to traffic for the whole month.

Disruption hit the town in December with Monnow Street, St John Street, Wyebridge Street, St James’ Square and Almshouse Street all consecutively closed to traffic.

Church Street and Agincourt Street are currently undergoing the replacement of the outdated water mains and from the second of July the work will focus on Agincourt Square leading to Priory Street.

Traders accept that the work in Monmouth is absolutely necessary, but there is a feeling that it is not being sympathetically executed.

The concurrent work at Drybridge Street and Wonastow Road in April and May, now finished, only made matters worse with motorists queuing just to get into town and the unexpected slippage on the A40, still unresolved, made negotiating town near impossible.

With reports of a major retailer being down £5,000 a week and independent businesses saying their turnover is down by between 40 - 90 per cent, the 2024 trading year has been a glum one for all

Some traders are only opening for a couple of days a week because they can't afford the overheads and have had to take a second job.  

During the recent six-week closure of Monnow Street, Muller Dairies refused to deliver milk to the town because it was too difficult to navigate and stores were forced to negotiate with third-party delivery drivers to ensure milk deliveries were in store.

Welsh Water has offered compensation for those traders that have been affected by the closure but some simply haven't been trading long enough to qualify.

Sherren McCabe-Finlayson, President of the Chamber of Commerce said : We appreciate the difficulties residents and visitors are experiencing when visiting our lovely town.  We would urge Monmouth residents to continue to support the town businesses during the ongoing disruption.  Please remember that business owners don’t get salaries they can only pay themselves once the cost of running their businesses are covered.  They are also subject to the same pressures of mortgage and cost of living increases as everyone else”.