Cafe owner ends 'lock-in'

First Edition

A man who had spent 196 days welded inside a roadside cafe at Guyhuirn, Cambridgeshire, gave up his protest at its enforced closure. Peter Hawes ran the cafe for 25 years.

emerged yesterday after more than six months.

Peter Hawes spent 196 days inside the cafe, having food and drink passed to him through a ventilation hole, but decided to give up because of the approaching winter.

He began his protest when the Department of Transport decided to close the lay-by on the A47 at Guyhirn, Cambridgeshire, where his cafe operated for nearly 25 years.

'It has been a hard grind. I am looking forward to coming out. It just seems ridiculous now,' said Mr Hawes, 49, of Marshland St James, Norfolk.

'We have made people aware of what is happening - the sit-in has made its point. If it was going to lead anywhere we would be prepared to stay.'