Traders in a busy street say they are losing hundreds of pounds a day due to roadworks.

Business owners in Western Road, Brighton, say work being carried out by Southern Water is seriously affecting trade.

Temporary traffic lights have been set up at the junction of Western Road and Montpelier Road.

The work is part of a £15.5 million project to replace Victorian water mains across the city.

Traders in the area believe they should be compensated for the business they are losing due to the roadworks.

Sherry Eskici, who owns the Mascara restaurant and the Mad Hatter coffee shop in Western Road, said: “The work starts at 7am and lasts all day.

“The noise is so loud we can’t open the windows and my staff get very hot and uncomfortable.

“If we do open the windows customers leave because it’s deafening.

“Saturday is my busiest day but last Saturday hardly anyone came in. I ended the day with nothing.”

The traders, who pay up to £10,000 a year in business rates, said they were losing customers every day.

Mrs Eskici said: “The business rates in this part of town are very high and yet we’re losing business. We were not given notification of the disruption.”

A spokeswoman from Southern Water said: “Work was expected to take several weeks but we discovered that the mains were under 16 inches of Tarmac and a further layer of reinforced concrete.

“We had to use heavy equipment to cut through this before work could start.

“Our contractors have endeavoured to complete the work as quickly as possible and the main part of this work should be complete by the end of the week.”

She said the water company had carried out some of the work in the night to minimise disruption and ensure businesses had a constant supply of water.

She added contractors often carried out their digs without using heavy machinery to try to limit noise and the company was open to discussion with businesses affected by its work.

Have you been affected by the roadworks? Tell us your story below.