A FIVE-week road closure has cost businesses tens of thousands of pounds which they fear will not be recouped.

St John’s Street, in Colchester, was closed at the end of May to repair a collapsed sewer pipe 3.5 metres underground.

With the emergency excavation now complete, Anglian Water anticipate the road being reopened by the end of the week.

However, without the passing foot traffic, traders say they have suffered financial losses.

Izabela Serwin opened the Cardamon Tea Lounge and Shop in late March.

The construction works started just two months later and as a new business, she has been hit hard.

Gazette:

Ms Serwin said: “The café did really well when we first opened, but now I’m £1,000 down in the last month, which I don’t think I’ll make back.

“I can only hope when the road is back to normal, our sales will be also, but it will take a really long time to recuperate.

“On Friday there was a huge engine here which was very noisy so I lost a lot of customers. I also couldn’t open the door or windows, which isn’t nice for customers.

“Some days there was no work being done and I’ve counted a four-day period when this happened.”

Lou Moodie, who established Music Warehouse with his wife, Suzanne, described St John’s Street as a "ghost town".

They employ five staff and had days when the store turned over just £50.

He said: “This has never happened in 30 years of being open.

“S&S Caribbean Café has closed some days because it saved the owner money rather than opening and it’s rumoured Wilko’s turnover has gone down by £3,000 a day since the works.

“More than anything we just hope people come back into the street.”

Anglian Water apologised for the inconvenience and delays.

If businesses can provide evidence showing a loss of profit as a result, it promised to look at the claims.

Gazette:

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, the length of the sewer collapse was larger than we first thought and the pipe was very deep underground, therefore the repair took longer than expected.

“In order to minimise the amount of road we needed to excavate, we tunnelled four metres underneath the road.

“This is an extremely complex job, which needs to be completed safely and with specialist equipment, and reinforcement.

“But the repair has now been completed and our teams are back filling the excavation and resurfacing.

“We hope to have the road reopened by the end of the week.

The closure also contributed to major congestion in the town centre with buses been diverted.