A BEWDLEY business sector chief has insisted the town is "not dying" after another shop owner pledged to shut her business unless takings were boosted.

Bob Bromley, chairman of the Bewdley Chamber of Trade, said a disruptive flood defence programme had affected businesses but the town would survive.

Speaking after furniture shop owner, Anne Nolan, said she would leave at Christmas unless trade picked up, Mr Bromley said: "The town is not dying. A lot of businesses are doing OK. Everyone is suffering."

He explained that although four shop premises were empty, new traders were set to move into two of them.

"Most of the chamber are saying it is quiet but it is not down to one specific thing," he added, "Everybody is knuckling down and are working hard."

Poor summer weather and the cost of car parking was also putting visitors off, he said.

Mrs Nolan, who runs Woodentops in Load Street, said she still supported the Severnside South flood barrier project, even though the works had shut Gardners Meadow car park and removed 40 spaces along the riverside street, hitting trade.

The Lax Lane resident - the third to shut up shop this year because of the Environment Agency project - said her business was struggling to survive in the current climate.

"Trade has been very poor. It is very bad at the moment and has been for the last 12 months. I will have a go. I will stay until Christmas to give the town another chance.

"It is to do with the parking and the flood defences. I also think shops in Kidderminster have played a part - people are going straight through Bewdley."

Mrs Nolan predicted a bleak future for trade in the town, which was also heavily disrupted by the project to install flood defences at neighbouring Severnside North, which was completed in 2002.

The trader, who has run the shop for more than a decade, said: "I am not that confident that trade will come back. Times have changed, the way people shop has changed. The main thing is that if people can't park they won't come back. They know there is a problem here at the moment."

Mrs Nolan said her close proximity to Severnside South and the closed Gardners Meadow car park had played a role in the shop's troubles and predicted food shops, in particular, stood a strong chance of survival.

"I live here, I love my business but it has been a struggle."