THE owners of a family-run shop have said they could have to shut if a road closed from construction works is not reopened.

Jackie and Manjit Bains, owners of the Brompton Convenience Store on Northallerton Road in Brompton, North Yorkshire, also told their three-part time staff that their jobs were no longer safe.

Towards November 2018, North Yorkshire County Council authorised the road’s closure to allow construction firm, Taylor Wimpey carry out works on its new Thurstan Park housing estate.

The road was due to reopen in Mid-January, but an extension of its closure has since meant it will remain closed until March.

Mrs Bains said the extension has placed doubt over whether her business will survive as customer numbers have fallen since November.

She said: “In two hours we counted 15 customers, normally it’s at least 60 – around 40 percent of our business is from passers-by – we just don’t know how long we are going to stay open, we have got three part-time staff as we are open until eight pm every night, we have told them their jobs are not safe."

Mrs Bains, who has co-owned the store for the past nine years, said the business developed from nothing, and said the fall in customers was beginning to leave her short changed.

“I don’t know if I can go to the 17 of March, it costs £500 to run the fridges alone - it’s hard enough to make ends meet, they have cut the business off, people have to walk down to our shop."

Mrs Bains said she attempted to ask the council for temporary traffic lights in the hope people could use a section of the road, but talks were unsuccessful.

In response, North Yorkshire County Council head of network strategy Allan McVeigh said: “We have every sympathy with the shop owner and others affected by the closure. The work is developer funded, not NYCC highways – the developer had unexpected problems with utility equipment which has delayed their planned end date. The road is currently completely excavated, so it is not possible to consider a partial reopening of the road because of health and safety considerations – we are continuing to work with the developer to get the road reopened as quickly as possible once it is safe to do so.’’

A spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey said: “We make every effort to minimise disruption in the communities in which we build, however, in the interest of public health and safety, infrequent road closures are necessary – the closure has been extended until mid-March and contractors are on schedule to complete the works within the revised timeframe."