TRADERS in Cinderford's 20-year-old Friday market at the rugby club are bitter over the town council's plans for more stalls in the revamped Triangle.
Some traders were operating in the weeks before Christmas, leaving market stall holders and some shop owners to fear for their livelihoods.
"The council has said it wants to make this even bigger – it even mentioned closing off streets," said Douglas Cotton, whose firm Grenchurch Ltd of Moreton-in-Marsh organises the rugby club market.
He angrily accused the town council of not thinking things through by allowing street trading which took business away from a traditional market without bringing any obvious benefit to the town.
"We have been coming to Cinderford for 20 years, and our traders are all well-known and trusted," he said.
"We also run buses for people outside the town to get in to the market. We couldn't bring people in if they spent their money elsewhere. Who else would provide the service? I don't think the council would."
One of the regulars at last Friday's market, fruit and veg man Billy Simmons, agreed. He said local shopkeepers round the Triangle were also upset by unfair competition from stalls when trading conditions were tough and they carried huge overheads of rent and business rates.
"I heard some stalls were paying only £10 a day. I pay £91 for this pitch," he said.
"There doesn't seem to be any regulation over those stalls. We provide quality because we want people coming back week after week."
And popular market butcher Andy Patterson said trade all round was tough – in recent times turnovers of £1,000 had been whittled away to £700 or so leaving very little profit. It was a situation where somebody spending £10 elsewhere than in the market made a real difference.