AN EVESHAM greengrocer who blames the farmers' market for a slump in trade is calling for them to be switched from Saturdays to mid-week.

Paul Betts, of Old Post Office Lane, Badsey, and his partner Chris Hawking run Paul's Veg in Evesham Market in the town's High Street. He said his trade dropped by 25% on the day of the last farmers' market.

"These are held on Saturdays, a prime business day, and also in the prime position in Evesham," he said. "Maybe a better time would be Wednesday when Evesham is fairly quiet and see what an attraction it is then."

He pointed out some people trading at the farmers' market were mainly interested in supermarkets for their produce, so he suggested a better place to hold the markets would be on Safeway or Tesco car parks.

Mr Betts said: "It seems the Evesham authorities are doing as much as they can to take trade away from the High Street for some unknown reason.

"We all want to see at Riverside Shopping Centre a success, but please don't forget there is a very good market four days a week and some lovely shops run by very dedicated and hard-working people in the High Street and other parts of the town."

Jane Dobson, of Wychavon District Council's economic development section, which has organised the district's farmers markets, said she would be happy to talk to Mr Betts.

She said: "We have consulted the town council who have agreed dates with us and also worked with the chamber of commerce. We have canvassed opinions as far and wide as we can."

She said they needed to go back to the town council to talk about possible dates for next year as it was really a matter for them to consider.

Town clerk Frank Green said the three markets agreed with Wychavon for this year had been held and the council had not had any request for next year.

He said: "We are going to take a lot more persuading these markets are going to improve trade before we agree any dates for next year."

On days and sites, he said the difficulty was that farmers might not support markets that were not on a Saturday and not in the town centre.