ONE of Billericay's popular eateries is facing closure as theresult of development at the town's railway station.
Bread & Buffers, the sandwich shop that has been fuelling hungrycommuters for 18 years, has had its lease suddenly terminated tomake way for a revamped frontage and ticket office at the RadfordWay station.
But the family who run the shop have vowed to fight the decisionevery step of the way.
Hugh McMahon, 61, set up the business in 1992 after being maderedundant from his publishing job in London.
A good idea "After commuting from the station every week andthinking it would be a good idea to have a little shop there, Iended up being the one to create the shop," he said.
"I was held up as an example of getting back into work andstarting a successful business.
"It's my livelihood, and I love it. I don't know what NationalExpress are thinking in trying to get rid of it."
The McMahons signed a lease renewal with National Express inApril, but less than two weeks later the company issued a leasetermination on the basis of redevelopment at the station - expectedto get under way in the autumn.
Hugh and his wife, Nadia, have now started a petition which hasgot nearly 1,000 signatures in just a few weeks.
Mrs McMahon said: "The shop is an institution. We've been herefor a long time and see the same people every day. We're a friendly,local shop and provide an essential service - we've let people usethe phone, we look after people's things, we let people pay us backlater if they're short.
"And because we're often the only manned place in the station,we're always able to help people.
"We have even offered to sell tickets in the past to make thingseasier but we were told we couldn't."
Many customers passing through the station are backing theMcMahon's campaign.
Roger Oliver, 60, who works in Radford Way, said: "I've beenbuying sandwiches here for five years and I come in every work day.
"It's always here for you and I'd be very sad to see it go."
Another customer said: "This place is brilliant. It adds realvalue to the station.
"Building a bigger ticket office is a pointless idea when it'sbarely ever manned at the moment, and most commuters have seasontickets anyway."
A National Express East Anglia spokesman explained that therewould be a new refreshment facility within the new development andinterested parties will have to bid for the contract to run it.
Facility The spokesman said: "It will bring major improvementsfor thousands of customers at one of our busiest stations, includinga brand new ticket office and booking hall, refreshment facility,better waiting facilities and a new station forecourt, at aninvestment of around Pounds 1.75 million from the Department forTransport's National Stations Improvement Programme fund.
"We undertook a thorough evaluation of which of our stationswould most benefit from investment and improvements, and haveresponded to customer feedback in developing these proposals forBillericay."
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