Plans to create a Continental-style cafe culture and pedestrianise the centre of a busy Shropshire market town could be devastating for shopkeepers, it was claimed today.

Trading chiefs in Bridgnorth have criticised proposals drawn up by the town’s civic society which call for a traffic ban in the town’s High Street and an overhaul of Saturday shopping in the town.

This would involve the transfer of scores of market stalls from nearby Old Smithfield, close to the Sainsbury’s supermarket, to the High Street.

The society also wants to create an open square outside the town hall for entertainment and pavement terraces on market days to mirror a European-style cafe culture

It claims the ideas have been successfully carried out in similar areas, such as Lichfield in Staffordshire, where trade has been lost to out-of-town shopping centres and retail parks.

But town traders say they are outraged, claiming the plan would turn Bridgnorth into a “spectacle rather than a working town.”

Ex-town chamber of commerce chairman Wayne Vernon said shops were already suffering because of the Saturday market.

“Shops situated on the same side of the High Street as the market stalls are not as busy as those on the other side of the street because people are looking at the stalls and not the shops,” he claimed.

He also claimed that many people avoided travelling into the town centre on Saturdays because of parking difficulties. The long-stay Old Smithfield car park, which normally houses several hundred vehicles during the week, is out of bounds at weekends because of the stalls dominating the parking area.

“Do we want a town that is useless to locals but attracts tourists, or do we want a useful town that also appeals to visitors?” he said.

“It is supposed to be a working market town and as such needs a mixture of businesses to serve local people – not look pretty and be full of eateries and useless shops,” added Mr Vernon, who runs the town’s Liage Opticians.