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Shop owners on a busy town centre street have been left frustrated by delays to fixing a road, which they believe is costing them business.

Potholes and roadworks are once again causing havoc in Newark after a hole on Kirkgate developed into a sink hole and eventually led to a gas leak.

David Moore, owner of Newark Art Gallery on Kirkgate said: "The issues really started with the sinkhole, which I'd say was two or three feet deep.

"We tried to report it because if it didn't get sorted, there was going to be an accident.

"They came along and fixed the hole after a few days, but in the process a gas leak occurred.

"The whole street ended up smelling of gas, so along came the gas men to investigate with a vacuum excavator to suck the hole all the way down to try and find out why it kept collapsing.

"The main problem for us is the loss of business and while a sign has gone up now saying that businesses are open as usual, we can stand here and watch as people come up from Morrisons and instead of continuing down here to the market, they get to the end of the road and turn right instead.

"We've had a few people come up and down, but the street has been dead and especially when all the machinery starts working, people just don't want to know.

"We've had days of massive machinery on and off, digging the concrete and fixing the gas leak, they even had a camera down the manhole checking pipes to see if any had given way.

"It's coming up to three weeks now. It happens all the time down Kirkgate, the whole road is known for sink holes and you can see where they have patched them all the way up the street", said David.

"It's probably about five metres deep now, which is quite impressive. But I just want them to get it out of the way, get it done.

"I understand if the whole road needs lifting and resurfacing, but just get on with it so we can get back to business."

Following the initial hole fix, alarm bells were raised when gas began leaking into a neighbouring building.

Sophie Green, of Bird and Co Solicitors, said: "We came into work one day and I thought 'what is that smell?'.

"At first we thought it could just be a sewage smell from the drains outside, but when we followed it to the basement and opened the door we were hit with an overwhelming smell of gas.

"By this point other businesses had noticed too and police were called. The whole street ended up being evacuated whilst they sorted out the problem, but that meant a whole day of cancelled appointments for us and lost trade for the retail shops next door."

Concerned about the impact the roadworks are having on business, Chris Wright, manager of Osborne's Stationers, said: "It's been going on for several weeks now and to be honest from a business point of view, because it's still not fixed, we'd rather they waited an extra week of two.

"Because as a stationers these first few weeks of September are our busiest times of trading with children going back to school and if the council starts bringing in the big machinery again, it'll mean no one will be able to get down here at all.

"At least right now, it's inconvenient, but the street is only partially closed and people can still walk down here."

Nottinghamshire County Council has been approached for comment.