Market traders this week claimed the Goliath-sized might wielded by high street stores is dwarfing a bid to save their livelihoods.

Around 20 stalls selling all sorts from socks to fruit and vegetable in Sutton High Street face collapse if a bid for a new pitch in the heart of the town centre is thrown out, according to the secretary of the Sutton branch of the National Market Traders' Federation.

Michael Podemsky says traders want to move from the lower to the upper end of the High Street because they fear imminent building work on the condemned Tesco store will drive business away.

If planning permission is granted, Tesco will be demolished to make way for a new ASDA store and work is expected to take around 14 months.

A war of words has now broken out following a meeting last week with town centre boss Richard Thomas.

He has largely ruled out the move, saying it is essential to look at the whole centre and give customers what they want.

"While a new building is being built there will be less people at that end and trade will probably go down.

"But these traders are only there two or three days a week. What are we to do with the shops which are down that end near to the market they are stuck there. If the market is not there, the other shops will do even less business."

He added larger high street stores would be opposed to it.

When the Comet contacted shops most likely to be affected by such a move, managers said they had not been made aware of the traders' bid.

Assistant manager of Waterstones Paul Masterson said he was not completely against the idea, as long as the stalls were kept tidy.

Woolworths manager Tracy Burke was less enamoured.

"We are already having difficulties getting our deliveries in. It might just add to the congestion," she said.

But the traders are vowing to fight for the move and have set up a meeting with councillors at the start of next year. In the meantime, they will be collecting signatures for a petition.

"We feel very strongly that while the building is going on it will be impossible to for us to work where we are sited," said Mr Podemsky, who runs a haberdashery stall.

"The place is going to be a building site and even with guarantees there will be no dust the fact is that part of the High Street will be a graveyard.

"We consider this a David and Goliath situation where the big boys with financial clout do not want market stalls in the High Street."

December 28, 2001 09:30