A landlord says he has been losing “thousands of pounds a week” due to roadworks and road closures preventing customers getting to his pub.

Steve Brinsley has run The Three Mariners in Lower Rainham Road, Rainham, since September 2013.

The route has been shut numerous times in recent months and the 57-year-old says his takings have suffered.

He explained: “For the last two or three months the traffic has just been everywhere with all the road closures.

“It’s the end of the summer now and we should have had a bumper time financially, but it’s hit us quite hard.

“We have been a lot quieter than we should have been and lost at least a third of our turnover from May until now.”

Steve, who runs the pub alongside partner David, could not give a precise figure but said it equated to “thousands of pounds a week”.

He added: “For businesses like us, it’s what happens in the summer that helps us get through winter, so it’s going to be tougher now because nobody has been able to get here.

“People know that if they want to travel from places in Rainham, it’s going to take them at least half an hour to do so.

“That’s why they think ‘forget about it’ and don’t come because it’s such a trek to get here.

“It’s not just Lower Rainham Road which is obviously affected - it’s everybody in Rainham and Medway.”

A large amount of closures were caused by CityFibre installing new internet cables.

In June, there were complaints the works were causing chaos. While those works are complete, there have been subsequent closures for emergency gas repairs and water leaks.

Most recently, the road was closed at the weekend (September 16), between Otterham Quay Lane and Station Road, for Openreach works.

Mr Brinsley said: “We have not had any notice from Medway Council about when the closures are going to happen.

“The only thing we have ever had is one flyer from CityFibre, on the day a closure was taking place.”

Earlier this month, the three Conservative councillors who represent Rainham North on Medway Council wrote to cabinet member for highways Cllr Simon Curry (Lab) about the roadworks.

Cllrs Kwashie Anang, George Prefect and Wayne Spring wrote: “Residents from across Rainham North have contacted us with their anger and dismay, and let us be clear, we share their concerns.”

They said that since CityFibre’s works had finished the “chaos has been further worsened” due to other emergency works.

The councillors called for the situation to be “far better managed”.

A spokesman for the Medway Labour and Co-operative Group said: “It was the previous Conservative administration in Medway that agreed the programme of works in Rainham, and the Conservative Party, locally and nationally, which have allowed vital infrastructure to fall into a state of disrepair.”