New Chamber of Commerce president Philip Barnett has thrown his weight behind the need to pedestrianise Reid Street to inject new life into Bermuda’s shopping environment. Retailers have been split over the issue with some fearing parking would be too far for people to bother coming to the shops.

But Mr. Barnett told The Royal Gazette: “Let’s look realistically. Reid Street has now become our main shopping thoroughfare. So people are always going to come to Reid Street.

“I think it only makes sense to pedestrianise it and allow for a more vibrant scene, especially as retailers move to opening later at night.”

He believes retailers will take up the Premier’s challenge to open later to serve tourists at night. And he also urged shop staff to buck up their ideas to keep customers satisfied.

He said: “One of the issues we Bermudians have is while we are polite — and we are polite to a ‘T’ with our good mornings and good afternoons — it is often been noted that perhaps there is a cultural issue where we don’t really go into making the sale and taking care of the customer.

“It is just not Bermudian to get excited and go out and sell something and ask ‘What can I do for you?’

“We as country need to understand we are competing with the world.

“If we are going to re-grow our tourism product we also have to make changes to every sector whether it be restaurants, retail and hospitality.

Friendliness costs nothing.”

Mr. Barnett said there were some outstanding examples of friendly service already in Hamilton but the trend needed to grow and be beacon of light to struggling retailers.

He said customs duty relief for hotels and restaurants had made a huge impact and the same could help retailers reinvent themselves if the policy was widened. “The retailers need

to have that same opportunity to compete because we are competing on a global scale.”

Duty breaks have saved his firm “a significant amount of money” for the Pickled Onion refurbishment.

Mr. Barnett was about to take over his post as new Chamber head when the horses ran amok on Harbour Nights.

It prompted noises to be made about banning them but Mr. Barnett indicated drastic action wasn’t needed.

“Everybody needs to recognise there are individuals whose entire livelihood comes from the horse and carriage trade so everything needs to be very carefully thought out in order to ensure we don’t take the ability of someone to earn a living in their own country.”

He said horses were ingrained in the fabric of Bermudian culture.

“Who doesn’t remember leaving their wedding in a horse and carriage? Who doesn’t remember having a first date or a family trip? It’s so iconic to the identity of Bermuda. It would be a

mistake for use to do away with horse and carriages.”

Of the Harbour Night horror he said: “It was completely unexpected, there was nothing anybody could do about it.”