We are operating in a 'no-go zone', traders warn

Businesses on a street that has been partially closed for nine months because of a crumbling listed building say the area has become a no-go zone.

Barriers and shipping containers have been in place near the former Convent of Mercy on Pump Street in Londonderry since it was damaged in October 2025 by Storm Amy.

Derry City and Strabane District Council (DCSDC) said the owners - the Derry-based Martin Property Group – had yet to submit a planning application for the Georgian building, which dates back to the early 1800s.

Business owners said the lack of work to stabilise the building and reopen the street had made it increasingly difficult to operate.

BBC News NI has contacted the Martin Group for comment.

Claire Mulvenna is co-owner of an optician's on the street in the city's historic cathedral quarter.

She said she "had a lot of goodwill" to begin with, and understood the storm damage was "an uncontrollable situation".

But she said, as "the months roll on", she has seen a drop in footfall in the area, adding it is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to survive.

"We've seen situations with listed buildings where this can carry on for years," she told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

"I just believe there's not enough being done," she said.

Joe Doherty, who owns apartments on Pump Street, said visitor numbers are down over the past nine months.

"It's going to get sorted whether it's in the next year, next two years … but in the meantime you have two businesses closed up because their footfall was down so bad," he said.

"Whenever I chat to guests they say it's such a shame, it's such a beautiful street in a historic area in our city centre and it is looking like a building site."

"I feel ashamed, absolutely ashamed that we have visitors coming from all over the world, America and Europe, and they're walking down one of the most beautiful streets in the city centre, a historical street, and there's four massive containers blocking the view up to the cathedral."

He said people are no longer people walking up Pump Street, as they think it is closed.

Pauric Lawne owns a craft shop on neighbouring London Street.

"The footfall is completely down and this is nine months on," he said.

Over that period, he said, traders had lost out on the Halloween trade and the Christmas market could not go ahead.

Plans to have a summer market on Pump Street were scuppered too, he said.

"Everything's up in the air at the moment and these are the things we kind of need to attract locals and tourists into the area," he added.

"It just looks like it is a no-go zone."

In a report presented to councillors last week, council officials said a proposal had been submitted by the property owners on 14 April.

"The proposal submitted seeks a comprehensive redevelopment of the properties at 10-16 Pump Street," the report said.

"The planning department has carried out a number of consultations on the proposed scheme and met with the building owner and their agent on 29 June 2026 to discuss the proposed scheme and provide advice with consultee input."

The report said that "ultimately the solution to stabilising, securing and preserving the building rests with the building owner".