WORK has begun to repair one of Potters Bar’s main roads – leading to closures for the next two weeks.

Sections of Darkes Lane, one of two main thoroughfares in Potters Bar, will be closed from now until Friday, February 27, while Hertfordshire Highways undertake urgent repairs to the road surface.

Much had been made over the impact the works would have on businesses in the street, with traders and residents clashing with representatives from Herts Highways during a heated meeting at the Wyllyotts Centre last month.

But early indications suggest things are not as bad as first feared.

This week, the Potters Bar Edition asked businesses and traders on Darkes Lane how they were coping with the closure.

Furzefield ward councillor Peter Knell, who also works at Station Cabs by Potters Bar railway station, said: “As a councillor, I can see that it needed to be done.

“They’ve already done one side and it looks very good.

“The roads are re-opened by 5pm so cars can get back through.

“It’s a little bit of an inconvenience but it’s only two weeks, and at the end it will look very nice and make a big difference.”

There had been concerns over how funeral directors Chas A Nethercott and Son would cope with part of Darkes Lane being closed.

But a spokesman for the company said: “We can get in and out still.

“We’re happy with the way Hertfordshire County Council is dealing with it, and we haven’t had any problems so far.”

But one business that is feeling the effect is the Admiral Byng pub, on the junction of Darkes Lane and Manor Road, where work is currently taking place.

A spokesman for JD Wetherspoon, the pub’s parent company, said: “The roadworks are certainly reducing the number of people in Darkes Lane which is having a knock on effect in the pub.

“It is frustrating and we hope that the work will be completed as soon as possible.”