BUSINESSES in Cheltenham's Henrietta Street are already suffering as roadworks shut the town centre road.
Traders on the street reported an extremely quite morning yesterday at the start of a four-day road closure.
Gloucestershire County Council's Highways Department is carrying out essential carriageway repair work until Saturday.
The one-way street's closure means drivers are being diverted along the High Street and St Margaret's Road.
But the work has left traders short of customers.
Brian Dyer, who has owned The Flower And Garden Shop in Henrietta Street since 1969, said he had barely seen a customer all day yesterday.
He said: "It has not affected the traffic badly, but people are not walking up and down the road so there has been no passing trade.
"A lot of our customers come in vehicles and they have nowhere to park at the moment.
"We also have nowhere for deliveries and collections to park so we have spent the day carrying things back and forward, which is not ideal.
"Nobody consulted us about the closure and we only got a letter saying it would happen.
"I don't think the road is as bad as some of the main roads in Cheltenham and, given all the work that is going to take place in the future here, it could have waited.
"We will have to continue opening for the rest of the week, because we have got bills to pay. We are coping, but I think it will be a slow week."
Toni Petri, owner of Toni's Hairstyles, also said it had been a quiet morning before the hairdressers shut at 1pm yesterday.
He said: "It has been really quiet for us and I expect it will the same until Monday.
"It really does affect us and it will be worse for us when we are open all day on Thursday onwards.
"The road did need doing as it was a bad, so we will just have to put up with it."
Chris Riley, highways manager, said: "These improvements are being partly funded by The Brewery developers, primarily to improve cycle facilities in the town, and we are taking the opportunity to carry out essential repairs to the road at the same time to prevent future disruption.
"Henrietta Street is one-way and not a major through route for vehicles so there should not be a significant impact on traffic in the town.
"We have kept businesses fully informed and scheduled the work to take place between 10am and 5pm so that the road is still open at peak times."
Traders had previously complained they were left out of the loop by Highways when it planned the resurfacing works.
