Moves to ban cars from Shrewsbury High Street divides opinion among traders
Business owners are divided as to how plans to pedestrianise Shrewsbury's High Street will benefit the town, with some saying it will kill off trade altogether.
Dozens of independent shops line High Street, which may become a traffic free zone between the hours of 10am and 4pm.
If the plans go ahead, only buses will be allowed down the busy street during trading hours, as part of traffic-calming measures.
The proposals are still in early stages, having been discussed by Shrewsbury Town Council earlier this week, and there was talk several years ago of a similar scheme.
Work has already begun on Wyle Cop which will see speed humps, waiting restrictions, and a 20mph speed limit introduced.
Town council leader Alan Mosley has said that High Street may be treated as an experiment and may be rolled out permanently in the future.
He hopes pedestrian safety and traffic congestion will greatly improve, but not everyone has welcomed the proposals.
Hayley Jay, of Hayley J Bridal Couture, fears the move will "kill" the town, after she has been based in High Street for more then a decade.
She said: "When I came to Shrewsbury 30 years ago it was a much more vibrant place. There were a lot more offices in town so you had a lot more people working centrally.
"I've always thought of this street as the central vein in Shrewsbury and by cutting off that vein, Shrewsbury will die.
"People will have a mental block and just not come down High Street anymore, so I think this will be the town's demise."
For Mohamed Kapasi, of Pandora's Box, a pedestrianised street will actually take away all passing trade.
He said: "It will have a direct affect on traffic here, if it goes ahead I think Shrewsbury will become a ghost town.
"They've done a similar system in other parts of the country and it just hasn't worked at all.
"There are a lot of independent shops down here and I would say that 30 per cent of my business is made up of passing trade.
"You want the public to come into town instead of keeping them out.
For the many cafes dotted along High Street, the news may help to boost their trade over the summer months.
Mrs Karin Chapman,who is bar manager at The Wheatsheaf, is hopeful that the measures would bring a much more "cosmopolitan" atmosphere to the area.
Mrs Chapman said: "I think it is actually a good thing really, at the moment people only come so far along town.
"We're currently restricted in what we can do with tables and chairs so it would be nice to be able to spread out.
"I think they did a similar thing in Brighton and it worked out pretty well so I don't see why we can't do the same."
Jackie Grey, who runs Love Jacs X is also hopeful that the potential new measures will brighten up the area.
She said: "I kind of quite like it when the road is shut, I think it will make it far more cosmopolitan."
For some business owners, the changes will make little difference.
Mrs Carol Croft of Charles Clinkard footwear said: "I can't see it having much effect on us. It's good that the buses will still be running though."
Mr Mosley suggested the changes at a finance committee meeting and he hopes that plans may be taken "seriously" in the near future.
Councillor Peter Nutting is also in support of the scheme, but is concerned that other areas of Shrewsbury may suffer as a result.
He said: "We need to have some experiments to see what happens.
"My only worry is that if you stop traffic in high street you will be putting a hell of a lot of traffic on town walls.
"Town walls is very historic and fragile and I'm not sure that it could take that amount of traffic.
"But let's find out, lets see what happens.
"We should use this period where work is getting done on Wyle Cop as a chance to experiment and find out."
