THE landlord of an Earby pub says it's "business as usual" despite the fact that the road outside his pub is closed.

Nigel Flory, who has been landlord at the Punch Bowl for the past three years, is doing all he can to keep his business afloat while work is carried out by Lancashire County Council to widen Wysick Hill - a steep and winding road between Earby and Thornton-in-Craven.

The road was closed on Monday and is due to stay shut for around five weeks.

However, it's already proving costly for the Punch Bowl which lies at the foot of Wysick.

Mr Flory told the Herald: "It's affecting us terribly so far. I've only sold one meal this week and I'm £100 a day down. It's really, really bad."

He added that the only people coming through the pub's doors were people asking how they could get to Skipton while the road was closed.

Mr Flory is now concerned about how the roadworks will affect the pub's weekend trade.

At the moment the Punch Bowl relies on passing traffic for around 70 per cent of its trade and only just survived a previous road closure in December 2001 for improvements further up the hill.

Mr Flory said he would be using this quiet time to give the pub a lick of paint ready for Christmas.

"I'm trying to stay optimistic. We're still open for business and have lots of events planned."

Meanwhile, motorists travelling along the A56 from Kelbrook roundabout through to the Station Hotel have also been experiencing delays this week, with work starting to resurface the road.

The work has been scheduled to take eight to 10 weeks and traffic lights have been erected.