Worries that drunks and druggies are ruining one of the city's most vibrant streets have sparked pleas for action.
Mark Hedge, director of Cookes Band Instruments in St Benedicts Street, says yobbos are plaguing the area and scaring people away from businesses there.
Mr Hedge, 53, said: "The level of street drinking, drug usage and anti-social behaviour in St Benedicts Street is increasing daily.
"There are drunks who hang around in the street loitering and shouting at people who walk by.
"It's making it less desirable for families to visit here and is affecting business.
"For this business, there's been an increase in younger people wanting to pick up an instrument, which is great, but this type of behaviour is going to deter them from coming here.
"Thursday we had to call the police because there were two men shouting at someone just walking along.
"It's becoming a very intimidating place."
On May 21, Mr Hedge contacted PC Claire Collins from the Norwich East policing team with his concerns.
Two days later he received a response from PC Collins who claimed their resources were "limited" with the "number of officers reduced" and that they were "not able to be in the area as much" as they would like.
Concerns about the impact of years of cuts to police resources have been raised by small business owners in recent months.
Helen Shepherd, owner of Sinsins Boutique of Love, in St Benedicts Street, captured two separate instances of shoplifting - totalling £260 - on CCTV in July last year.
Helen's shop was targeted on four occasions in three months.
However, Helen was frustrated with the lack of police activity and said in August: "It's all bureaucracy and no action.
"Even having CCTV footage of the person's face and providing information on their whereabouts, they refuse to take the quick win."
However, Norwich inspector, Terri Cooper-Barnes, insists patrols have increased after recent reports.
She said: "Officers have increased their presence in the area of St Benedicts Street following some recent reports of anti-social behaviour.
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"One of our current policing priorities for Norwich is focused on street drinking and anti-social behaviour, particularly around Prince of Wales Road, which our Safer Neighbourhood Teams have been frequently patrolling and taking action to address.
"We encourage those who witness any incidents in St Benedicts Street to report it directly to us via 101 or on the Norfolk Police website because it can help inform our future priorities."
Mr Hedge wants to see more action though.
He added: "We have to be more proactive in protecting our business now because there's hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stock which we don't want damaged.
"It's just another challenge we don't need - that anyone here needs.
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"Don't get me wrong I like a drink but I don't stand around yelling at people.
"The area has quickly become an area of substance abuse and it's not nice to be around it.
"We need somebody to enforce the area because I can see something quite bad happening if things continue as they are."
Similar concerns have been raised in the Town Close area after folk were told the Norwich South neighbourhood team was being cut from 11 offices to seven.
This included an officer with 11 years of experience and another with seven leaving the area, with a petition launched urging Norfolk's chief constable Paul Sanford to review the changes.
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