Roadworks destroying pub's trade

A licensee is being driven to distraction by roadworks that have put off punters and slashed his weekly takings by £800.

And to add insult to injury the Star Inn, in Kirkhamgate, West Yorkshire, isn't even benefiting as the improvements do not include the stretch of road right outside the pub.

The roadworks mean customers have to take a four mile diversion to get to the pub and licensee Andrew Balderson said many are going elsewhere.

"A lot of my clientele are at the older end and they are getting confused with the road signage," he said.

"With the economy as it is they are just disregarding all the businesses in the village."

Balderson said the local authority did not consult him about the works the only compensation he has been offered is a possible reimbursement of business rates - about £120 for each week of disruption.

A council spokesman said: "We have spoken to the owner of the Star Inn and apologised to him and other people in the area for any inconvenience the work has caused."