Shopkeepers fear for the future of their businesses after learning their road will be closed for six weeks due to gas work.

National Grid is closing the end of Totteridge Lane near Whetstone High Road to all traffic while workmen replace ageing metal gas mains with plastic pipes.

The owner of The Flower Stand by Totteridge and Whetstone Station said she had been forced to close the stall for the duration of the work.

She added: “We rely on passing trade for most of our business. People will see the road closed signs and not bother coming down.

“We thought we might as well close the stall as otherwise we’d have £500 of flowers sitting inside which we’d be unable to sell to anyone.”

The florist added she dreaded what would happen if the road did not open when planned, as the shop relied on making a lot of sales during a major Jewish festival in early September.

She said: “We’ve already had to lay someone off because the loss of trade will mean we won’t be able to pay her.

“If it does not open by the end of August it will ruin me.”

She said a coffee shop which was going to open on the street had been made to delay until September, meaning it would lose out on the summer trade.

She added she was “really annoyed” she had not been consulted by National Grid before it decided to carry out the works.

She said: “I had to hear it from a neighbour. Why couldn’t they have come down and talked to us and promised to do it quickly over two weeks instead of taking so long.”

Hairdressers and beauty salon Nayu, which opened on June 14, is also concerned about the effects of the gas work.

Its owner Tharu Shah said: “We’re a new business. We’re just building up a customer base.

“Now the customers who come by car will be unable to get to us so they’ll go somewhere else.

“We’re going to be really badly affected by this; we’ll go down to one or two customers a day.”

He added he had also heard from a neighbour about the road closure.

“We weren’t told anything about this, is there going to be any compensation?”

However Dean Leslie of Statons estate agents said the road closure was just “one of those things.”

He added: “The gas work needs doing. It’ll be problematic for a bit but we’ll make the best of it.”