A RESTAURANT blighted by overrunning and disruptive roadworks has been saved from closure thanks to the owner’s family.

The Spicy Swan, Bradwell, was forced to close at the beginning of April due to a scheme of maintenance works on the A120 between Braintree and Marks Tey.

The restaurant will now reopen on August 1, thanks to Faruk Hussain, who stepped in to help the owner, his brother Salik Miah.

Mr Miah said: “If he hadn’t intervened I would have had no hope of reopening because the situation was so bad.

“I could not afford to open again but my family saw what I was going through and they decided to step in to rescue me.

“Now we have to carry on and make it work here but this has been very detrimental.”

Mr Miah estimates that the business will have lost around £120,000 of trade during the four months it has been closed, but the restaurateur received no compensation from Highways England. He was forced to shut the business after being told it was not possible to reduce his business rates.

Mr Miah said: “There has been a history of the property struggling and Greene King before us could not make it work here.

“I have spent so much money on the place and it feels like it has gone to waste and down the drain.”

The businessman said the past few months have been “very stressful” and without his family’s help he wouldn’t be able to continue to cover the mortgage on the property.

Mr Miah said: “The roadworks have been really unfair for local business people and I am surprised Highways England have not wanted to give us any help.”

A Highways England spokesman said the works were essential to “improve safety and provide smoother journeys” and that access to homes and businesses was “maintained at all times”.

Further works are planned at several locations along the A120 for later this autumn.