Traders were furious after the finish date slipped back from October to December, leaving the town centre with one less car park and no bus station in the Christmas shopping period.

But Warwickshire County Council announced this week that its contractors hoped to have the 15-bay bus station completed by the end of October.

Warwick Chamber of Trade chairman Sue Butcher believes the early finish will benefit businesses and shoppers.

She said: “The lead-up to Christmas is a key period for many businesses in the town. Having the finish date back where we expected it to be is a huge benefit.

“Economically things are hard at the moment so anything that makes trade more difficult is not desirable.”

Mrs Butcher hopes the bus station will encourage townspeople to come into Warwick at a time when many are put off making longer journeys.

“The main benefit is that we will get our car park back in time for the pre-Christmas rush and back in operation for the Victorian evening. ”

Recent heavy rain has not hampered progress and bus station project manager Nigel Whyte said he could not foresee anything causing a major delay in finishing the bus station.

He explained that integrating the early stages of building work with the completion of the archaeological excavations had enabled work to progress faster.

Although stone age, medieval and more recent remains were uncovered, a lack of unexpected finds in the dig also helped ensure work was kept to schedule.

Mr Whyte said: “We wanted to be as realistic as possible by going for a December finish.

“We did listen to Warwick Chamber of Trade. It was always our intention to get construction finished as soon as possible.

“The sooner the bus station is completed the better it is for the whole town.”