Alsager publican says sinkhole costs her hundreds a day

Landlady Karen Williams said potential customers assumed her pub was closed

A publican says she is losing up to £500 a day in trade since a road was closed due to a sinkhole.

Karen Williams, manager of The Railway Inn in Alsager, adds she is worried customers will presume the premises shut and go elsewhere permanently.

The sinkhole appeared a week ago on Audley Road, a busy route where the pub is sited.

But Ms Williams said shutting it had a "frustrating" knock-on effect in which fewer people passed the premises.

United Utilities said they couldn't confirm how long the road would be closed for

"We aren't getting the passing trade," she explained. "People are assuming the pub is closed just because the road is."

The sinkhole has been caused by a collapsed sewer.

United Utilities said: "A partial road closure has been put in place and we are currently planning the repair." 

The Railway Inn - situated on a road closed following the discovery of the sinkhole - is said to be losing hundreds of pounds a day

Ms Williams said she had been told repairs could take four weeks. United Utilities said it could not confirm a completion date at this stage.

Many residents, it added, had welcomed the road closure, reporting the route to be a "busy and dangerous" one.

One resident said he wished the road was always shut.

"It is a shortcut from Stoke to Sandbach and when the motorway is shut often what happens is it is gridlocked down here," he said.

Another said people drove down it "like idiots", adding: "It is a busy road so it is difficult to pull out of the drive at the best of times - people aren't the kindest, should I say."