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  • 19 hours ago
Fremantle is bustling with crowds keen to catch buskers and other performers during the International Street Arts Festival this Easter long weekend. It's welcome news for some businesses in the port town, but others are hitting the wall as cost of living and the closure of the Fremantle Traffic Bridge take their toll.

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00:02Head-spinning street performance in the heart of Frio.
00:08Packed with people there for the stunts and the jumps.
00:14Yeah, it was pretty sick.
00:15Pretty scary.
00:15Yeah, it was kind of scary, not a good one.
00:17I liked it because he did a back lip.
00:19A boon for local businesses.
00:21It's really good for the small businesses around Fremantle.
00:24To help give everyone a bit of a boost and draw more people to the area.
00:27But you don't have to go far to see a different story in the Fremantle area.
00:31Affluent George Street is close to the now shut Fremantle traffic bridge
00:35and shops along here have noticed a sharp drop off in customers.
00:39It's been the final straw for one prominent restaurant.
00:42It's really sad to say that it's shutting down
00:44but I'm not prepared to just watch everything diminish and go to nothing.
00:50Closing after almost 11 years.
00:53The rising cost of fuel, food, rent and the closing of the bridge shrinking margins too much.
00:59It's definitely one of the biggest factors because this is going to last a whole year.
01:05So we've been watching less and less customers come to the area.
01:10They're not alone.
01:11Across the road, the corner cafe is struggling too.
01:14I've had to cut staffing so pull back on the number of pastry chefs that I have on site.
01:20I've had to step back into a more full time role.
01:23The town of East Fremantle, where they are,
01:25isn't offering financial support for businesses during the bridge closure.
01:29But the city of Fremantle has a small business grants program on offer.
01:33I think businesses are largely getting through it
01:36and if they're not we encourage them to get in touch and we'll see what we can do.
01:38The bridge is due to reopen early next year.
01:43The bridge is due to reopen early next year.
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