SHOPS near the charred remains of Cycle King in Cowley Road were lucky to escape when flames engulfed the store in March.` But their good fortune has not lasted as many have since reported a big drop in trade, losing thousands in takings.

Businesses say a temporary pedestrian walkway was not installed around the gutted building when scaffolding was put up.

As a result they believe potential customers have been put off walking near the scene of the fire as it would mean dodging traffic in busy Cowley Road.

Rachel Hammond, co-manager of People’s Supermarket, said: “We are very lucky and grateful that we weren’t affected by the fire but there has been a huge drop off in walk-in trade.

“There was no temporary walkway so people weren’t walking up here where they normally would.

“We’ve all been affected by it, who knows if it will pick up again when they reopen?”

Shop assistant Quartus Prichardt said sales immediately fell by 30 per cent after the fire, costing the business hundreds of pounds, and it still hasn’t picked up.

Kalamata Taverna, next to Cycle King, has not been allowed to open for more than five weeks for safety reasons.

Owner Sherko Zen-Aloush said a refurbishment carried out before the fire had to be put on hold as overhanging scaffolding from the gutted property blocked access.

He estimated he has lost more than £25,000 in two months and says their insurers won’t cover it. He said: “I’ve been here 21 years and have no idea what the future will be.

“We had our keys taken off us, they said just a few days but it turned into weeks. First we were not allowed inside, and now I can’t reopen.

“I am trying to pay my bills and support my family but I don’t know how long the money will last.”

Green Party councillor for Iffley Fields, Elise Benjamin, who chased the matter up with County Hall, said: “I couldn’t get my head around why there was no footpath.

“Emergency measures have been taken to put a path in but at our expense.

“Some of these shops have been hit very hard.”

Nichola Thake, operations manager for Cycle King, said it had done everything it could to make the area safe for repairs to continue. The work is being carried out on behalf of their insurers Gab Robins but they were not able to confirm the company doing the structural work.

He said: “Tenders have gone out for the work to fit out the shop.

“I know that it has been slow but a lot of things have been going on and it is moving towards a resolution now.”

He said he did not know when the work would be complete.

When the fire broke out at the store eyewitnesses saw the doors blown off and 15-foot flames shooting from the roof.

It took 70 firefighters to stop the flames.

The shop, which has been in Cowley Road for about 13 years, reopened at another site along Cowley Road.