HUNDREDS of shoppers have shown support for a town centre mini-market shut by Basildon Council.

Six traders, including popular florist Peter Townsend, 61, ran stalls on Saturdays next to Costa Coffee, in Basildon Town Square.

However, the council decided last week the traders could not operate there any longer, because of fears the mini-market was providing too much competition for the main market, by the bus station.

On their final day on Saturday, disappointed stallholders collected 500 signatures for a petition calling for them to stay.

Mr Townsend was banned last August from running a stall in nearby St Martin’s Square, because he refused to stop selling wild bird seed, which landlord Savills claimed was being used to feed pigeons.

He was allowed to re-launch a month ago in the Town Square, which is run by the council.

Mr Townsend said he could not believe he had been shut down again.

He said: “Lots of people signed the petition calling for us to stay. If I’d known I would only be allowed back for such a short time, I wouldn’t have bothered. It’s getting embarrassing. I’m gutted as I was starting to get all my old customers back.”

The other closed stalls sold sweets, wood carvings, sausages and bread. Their plots were hired from the council by a businessman, then sublet.

A council spokesman said: "His initial booking for the Town Square was temporary and ended on April 7. He applied for a year-long slot which was considered and rejected as it is not currently in the best interest of the town centre, the current market and its traders, and the aspiration for a single centralised market.

“Separate mini-markets will not help us to achieve this aspiration.”

Multinational firms NPower and Sky are still being allowed to run stalls in the Town Square. But the council said this was because they were not in direct competition with the main market.