A £50m blow at a time when Oxfordshire’s economy is at its most fragile.

That’s the estimated effect of the unprecedented build-up of bank holidays about to hit Oxfordshire’s businesses.

The Mini plant is just one of scores of firms affected as it prepares to shut down for more than a week.

Bosses at the Cowley factory, which employs 3,700 workers, have made the decision that is not worth working between two long weekends.

The workforce will come in as normal on Good Friday, have Tuesday as a lieu day and take Wednesday and Thursday as holiday before the extra bank holiday on April 29, the day of the royal wedding.

Rebecca Baxter, spokesman for the plant, said: “Due to the close timing of the bank holidays for Easter, May Day and the holiday for the Royal wedding, we have decided not to open the plant for just three shifts in the middle of a 10 day period.”

Experts at Botley-based accountants and business advisers James Cowper calculate the county’s bill for lost productivity on the Royal wedding day at £50m alone.

Partner Mike Farwell said: “People across Oxfordshire work extremely hard and many will have doubled their efforts to squeeze a full week’s work into the shortened working week.”

Timon Colegrove, managing director of Kidlington printing firm Hunts People in Print which employs 40 staff, said: “We are a small business and a bank holiday costs us in the region of £15,000 a day in lost production.

“You can deal with that in a month but to have three in five weeks is a huge amount of lost revenue, while my staff bill for that period is £12,000.”

Mr Colegrove added the major problem had come with the Royal wedding on Friday, April 29, being made a public holiday.

That has turned the May Day Bank Holiday into a four-day weekend immediately following the four-day Easter break. He said: “The main problem is lost production.

“The business I could have done will run into other days.

“I am not a killjoy but it is a strain on the business and I would have preferred the Royal wedding to be in the autumn. There will be a real loss of momentum in what are challenging times.”

Jonathon Minoli, managing director of Minoli Tiles with 35 staff in Cowley, said: “In our commercial business with customers such as builders and car showrooms, the vast majority of decision makers have taken a very extended break.

“It is exceptionally quiet but for the local business, the figures in our showroom are holding up. We are open on Saturday and we will see what happens.”

Peter Rayner, organiser of The Late Breakfast networking club, was forced to cancel yesterday’s meeting at Milton Park, near Didcot, due to a lack of numbers. He said: “With the shorter working weeks people are trying to squeeze in as much time with clients as possible.”

Keith Slater, council member of the Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “The Royal wedding break could have been better planned as I don’t think a lot of people have realised the implications.

“Those in manufacturing and services are pretty fed up about the situation.

“It could cost the county millions which will have to be made up.”

And Margaret Coles, chairman of the Oxfordshire branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, said businesses that did work over the bank holidays faced higher staffing costs.

She added: “Paying higher rates to staff on a bank holiday will have have an impact on turnover.”

Iain Nicholson, director of the Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network, said: “There’s no doubt our hospitality businesses will welcome the bank holidays boost, especially if the weather is good.

“At the same time, many will say they would have preferred the extra bank holiday away from April/May time.”

business@oxfordmail.co.uk