Fed up shoppers will give the Fine City a miss this Christmas if roadwork "carnage" continues - putting droves of jobs at risk.
That is the warning from bosses and retail experts alike following the news that works to St Stephens Road - a major arterial route into the city - have been delayed until the end of September.
Retail guru Eric Kirk said roadworks - including works in Hospital Lane being pushed back until November - put a black cloud over the festive period.
He added: "If you kill the high street you are killing hundreds of jobs. If you put people out of work they don't have the ability to spend money."
The St Stephens Road delays are because of the complexity of underground utility work.
In addition a zebra crossing in Ipswich Road, near to Grove Avenue, will replace a pedestrian island instead of the work being done at a later date, a Norfolk County Council spokesman said.
He said: “Improving our infrastructure is vital to the long term success of our city, whether that’s providing better access to highspeed broadband or improvements to sustainable travel to combat climate change.
"We appreciate people’s frustration and apologise for the delay but delivering these works now will save the authority money and avoid further disruption.”
The work is over the roundabout from £4m worth of construction in St Stephens Street to create new bus parking bays and bus shelters as well as flower beds and trees, due to end this Autumn.
Mr Kirk, from Drayton, who used to be the general manager of the former Castle Mall from 1996 to 2001 and now advises retailers through his firm Your Fresh Eyes, said: "As far as Norwich is concerned there is grave danger of people becoming disillusioned and giving the city's businesses a miss when it comes to Christmas.
"When people see roadworks it deters people. People are used to convenience. Added delays put people off from using the city.
"We have suffered on the outer ring road and on St Stephens Street and now the work in Hospital Lane, Hellesdon, has been put back three months. It is bad news for the city.
"People are creatures of habit and if you break a habit you find alternatives. More people are shopping in towns around Norwich instead.
"Norwich has to have good news in terms of roadworks. It needs visitors to survive.
"The city needs to pull its finger out otherwise it is going to have medium to long-term problems.
"It'll take time to sort this out but we don't have time."
He added constant bad news regarding road delays prolonged the agony of the "long painful death" of the high street.
Scott Curtis, owner of 7 Surrey Street cafe, off St Stephens Street, said: "The road closure has had an impact. We are down 20pc since the work started. We have reduced business because older people know roadworks are here."
The 43-year-old from Aylsham said a lot of his trade came from older people who visited the city by bus from towns and villages outside of Norwich.
He added customers are put off coming because they have to walk further from Castle Meadow rather than St Stephens Street while work was happening.
Mr Curtis said: "The roadworks will cause businesses to struggle. It will be hard to pick up from this."
Simon Nisbet, owner of the Little Haven cafe in St Stephens Square off St Stephens Road, said people had to have their wits about them when crossing the road during the work.
He added the roadworks were "not ideal" but had not affected trade too much so far.
However he added: "Roadworks in the city are total carnage. It is clogged up whenever work is done it is done at the same time."
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