BARS, cafes and restaurants stuck in the middle of busy city centre roadworks have sent out a reminder the dug-up street is still open for business.

Sidbury, one of Worcester’s oldest and most historic streets, is currently being dug up as part of a major multi-million project to cut congestion with pedestrians forced to snake through the roadworks to get through.

Frustrated drivers have already complained about the long tail backs but now businesses have come forward to send out the message that Sidbury is still well and truly open.

Khalid Baij, supervisor at The King’s Head, said the number of customers visiting the pub and restaurant had dipped since the roadworks began and had been relying on regulars for trade.

He said he was hopeful visitors would pick up - especially as the summer holiday was one of the busiest times of the year.

He said: “We do seem to have had less customers in the last week or so.

“The roadworks has definitely stopped people from walking past as much so those kind of people are not coming in.

We’re just trying to take as many bookings as possible at the moment.

“It has been a couple of weeks now that the roadworks have been here and it’s just getting on a little bit now.”

Other businesses in Sidbury including The Commandery, Paradiddles, Charlie’s Cafe, Cookies Custom Tattoos and Primo have all reminded customers they are still open for business.

Highways boss Jon Fraser said disruption was expected but the work needed to be carried out.

The council has said most of the daytime work would be carried out during the school holidays to minimise disruption.

A number of overnight closures are also due to take place.

The work at Sidbury includes replacing a 50-year-old traffic light system, extending approach lanes in City Walls Road and installing a new signal-controlled pedestrian crossing across Commandery Road.