Grand opening of new fish and chip shop in Norwich put on hold as gasworks flounder

The Fish n Chip Shop in Norwich has been unable to open due to gasworks delays. Picture: Juber Ali (Image: Juber Ali)

Juber Ali, who runs Ahmed Spice in Wymondham, is due to open a new takeaway in a former halal butcher's on Magdalen Street in Norwich called The Fish 'n' Chip Shop.

However, after discovering the building was not on a gas supply, has faced an ongoing struggle to get it connected.

He contacted Cadent, the company responsible for managing gasworks in the area, in November and was told it could take up to 12 weeks to establish a connection.

But some 28 weeks later the works are yet to be done, placing the business on hold.

Mr Ali said: 'The delays are very frustrating as they are damaging the credibility of our business before we have even got it off the ground.

'We have staff lined up who are expecting to start new jobs and I have to keep telling them we don't know when we can open.

'We are frequently asked when we will open and can never give an exact answer. It makes us look like idiots and my credibility has gone down the drain.'

The hold up has left the business thousands of pounds out of pocket, having been paying rent on the property since last July.

A Cadent spokesman said: 'We understand the frustrations and are doing all we can to carry out this work as soon as possible.

'The gas mains we need to access are in a busy areas and the local authority has specified that work needs to be done on Sundays, when roads are generally quieter.

'We had agreed dates to do the work however unexpected engineering challenges were encountered in accessing the section of gas mains from which we planned to connect the customer.

'Therefore we have had to redesign the plans for connection to access our network from a different point.

'We can appreciate the customer has been waiting a long time for the gas connection and we have been keeping them updated throughout. We'll continue to work with them and the local authority to ensure this work is completed as soon as possible.'