Gallowtree Gate should have been re-paved earlier this year but the wrong kind of granite was delivered.

A temporary surface has been laid but will have to be dug up again now the correct paving has arrived.

While shopkeepers claim the disruption and untidy impression has hit their custom, city officials have said the finished area will be worth the wait.

The city council had ordered smooth stone from China but the delivered granite had a rough grain.

Replacement stone was then delayed when the quarries were in the path of a tropical cyclone.

Work to pave the area will begin early next week with the wider city centre regeneration due to be completed in time for the opening of the new Shires shopping centre in 2008.