Bars and restaurants in Birmingham's entertainment district were left counting the cost after customers were driven away by Wednesday's bomb scare.

Broad Street – normally packed with people enjoying drinks or meals – became deserted when police closed off the street to investigate a security alert at the International Convention Centre.

Venues that would normally thrive from passing custom lost tens of thousands of pounds after the incident, which lasted all afternoon and into the evening.

Staff at Zinc Bar and Grill had to cancel all reservations during the daytime, and could not accept any customers until well into the evening.

La Tasca, at Regency Wharf on Broad Street, also had to cancel its reservations after police sealed the area – but not until after two people had already ordered.

The couple, who had popped out for lunch, were trapped in the restaurant for more than six hours after police told staff that no one could enter or leave.

They spent the afternoon and early evening with three restaurant workers, until the cordon came down at around 8.30pm.

Deputy manager Paul Hughes said the all clear was given at 9pm, but by that time it was too late to start up the kitchens again, and the day was written off.

Takings at the restaurant were five per cent of a normal Wednesday evening, he added.

Most bars on Broad Street were shut down while police and bomb disposal experts investigated the ICC. But a handful stayed open, serving people shut out by the cordons.

Becky Clarke was working at the Tap and Spile pub when Broad Street was shut down. She said: "We got a lot more people coming down Gas Street, which was still open.

"We also had the Symphony Hall crowd come in for a drink after they were evacuated from the ICC."

And Allan Sartori, the manager of The Rocket Club, on Broad Street, said business had gone on as usual at his club. He also said business owners could not let bomb threats change the way they operated.

"My biggest problem was getting the staff into work," he said. "But they all just found places further away to park and walked in. The police did what they had to do. It's a sorry state of affairs, having things like this happen, but you can't let it grind you down."

Mr Sartori was at a meeting with other managers of businesses on Broad Street when news came through of the street being closed down. The Broad Street Business Improvement District (BID) was subsequently called off half way through.

Steve Hewlett, business liaison manager of the BID, praised the work of police in keeping business leaders in the area informed.

"The police kept us fully informed by text message throughout the day to what was going on," he said. The new vocal message text system, where business leaders are kept in touch about police developments, helped the area hugely, he added, saying: "I must have had six or seven text messages in the afternoon.

"Communications have improved since the evacuation experience we had in 2005." Mr Hewlett said bars, clubs and restaurants would have also been struggling yesterday because of the snow.

"There's one thing we can't control, and that's the weather," he said.