Owners of an Italian restaurant in Brighouse claim building work on a new Sainsbury's store is crippling their business.

Rita and Franco Massimo, who run La Romantica in Phoenix Street, plan to take legal action against the supermarket chain for loss of trade.

Part of nearby Mill Lane and a 53-space council car park there will be closed until mid-November to make way for a new access road to the 20,000sq ft store being built on the Milestone Wharf site.

The Massimos say the number of customers has dropped by half and they have lost £3,000 in trade in two weeks, since the closures began, because diners cannot use the car park and diversions are putting them off.

And they say access to their eaterie has been made worse by the closure of Phoenix Street to traffic from Wakefield Road and the misleading "Road Closed Ahead" sign at the junction of Wood Street and Mill Lane.

Mother-of-four Mrs Massimo, 41, said: "It's devastating our business. Our customers know we are here but can't get to us and when they do they have nowhere to park. One customer said he had to drive round three times before reaching us because the diversion signs are so confusing.

"It has taken us four years to build up this business and we were very busy but we feel it is now being destroyed. We don't know if we can keep going until November and may have to lay off our staff.''

Sainsbury's say they understand the couple's plight and are helping by distributing flyers in the town and putting weekly adverts in the local press to inform people the restaurant is still open for business. And their contractors have offered to open up part of the car park for 15 cars from next week - but the Massimos say this is not enough as six spaces would be taken up by their own cars.

A spokesman for Sainsbury's said: "We are entirely understanding of the situation and have no desire to see local businesses suffer. We regret any inconvenience caused to Mr and Mrs Massimo and will continue to liaise with them. We are taking steps to alleviate the situation by informing residents and customers they are still open for business."

The couple, who run the restaurant with their two sons, Leno, 19, and Antonio, 18, also revealed they have had to postpone plans to build a £40,000 kitchen extension next month because of the road works.

The Massimos say they are particularly angry they were only given four days notice of the car park closure and no chance to object.

Nigel Pickles, the Council's group traffic engineer, said: "Unfortunately, the formal notification period was very short because of the sudden progress of development on the store."

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