Villagers say they have been left isolated by the closure of the main road into their community.

Three weeks of road improvements costing £160,000 started on the C7 Wartling Road, near Eastbourne, on Monday.

However, villagers say it has left businesses facing heavy losses and residents with longer journey times in and out of the village.

To highlight their anger, 12 residents will gather on horseback dressed as highwaymen at The Lamb pub on Friday with a 40-name petition for East Sussex County Council.

A special Dick Turpin pie, named after the spurious highwayman and made from steak, ale and oysters, will be sold at the pub during the works.

The Lamb's landlord, Rob Farncombe, 37, said he has been forced to lay off some of his nine full-time staff when he should be preparing for the Christmas rush.

Three workers have been placed on "enforced holiday" while two have been temporarily laid off - which Mr Francombe said is a direct result of the roadworks.

He said he draws customers from across East Sussex, including Eastbourne, Bexhill and Little Common - just along the A259 Marsh Road.

But he predicts business will ebb away during the next three weeks because customers will not tolerate the extra journey time to reach the village.

Mr Farncombe, who runs the pub with wife Alison, said: "We've had people ring up and cancel parties and takings are being badly hit. People just won't drive the extra distance.

"For us, in the lead up to Christmas, the road closure is absolutely devastating.

On Monday we would expect to have 20 people in during lunchtime and 16 to 18 in the evening but instead we only had a few."

He said it was having a knock-on effect in the community.

Mr Farncombe said: "I usually buy most of my meat from Chilly Farm, four miles down the road, but the journey will now be 22 miles so I've had to cancel my order.

"Yet another rural business is suffering."

Wartling can still be accessed from the north via the A271. However, the main route - via the Pevensey roundabout turn-off - has been sealed off.

Signs do say that The Lamb and the Herstmonceux Science Centre are still open.

Villager Patrick Land said having a partial closure using traffic lights would have been a better option.

A council spokesman said using traffic lights to keep such a narrow road open would have been impractical and plenty of warning had been given before the works started.

The spokesman added: "The county council is aware that any roadworks can cause problems but in this case a road closure was the only practical way to allow contractors and heavy plant to undertake reconstruction, strengthening and resurfacing works in a safe manner."