plans for a new Lidl store in Malvern Link have left many residents fuming.

The German budget supermarket chain, which bought the former eurohaus site on Worcester Road four years ago, held an open day at the site on Saturday.

Two hundred people were able to view the proposed plans for the new store and raise concerns with Lidl employees.

The plans showed a new car park to the front of the building, with the store behind it. The possibility of removing existing on-road parking bays in front of the site and introducing a third lane for store traffic was also mooted.

Graham Perkins, proprietor of Link Antiques on Worcester Road, went to the open day to register his concern at the loss of the parking bays.

Mr Perkins and Paul Price, owner of the neighbouring York Cafe, said that, without the parking spaces, which are used by themselves and their customers, their businesses would be forced to close.

"Our main concern is that we don't want to lose the parking on the road. If we lose that, our businesses will be finished," said Mr Perkins.

"They've said we can use the main car park but I'm not convinced that'll work.

"They also want to put in an extra lane. This road already gets grid-locked. It's just going to get worse."

Residents living opposite the site said they were worried about the impact the store would have on the area.

Tom Falcon, from Chillerton Court, said he felt that traffic turning in and out of the store on to the busy Worcester Road would cause chaos.

Mr Falcon said: "I think everybody feels that it's not the right place for it.

"We've been here 18 years and the traffic's got worse and worse over that time. We have the police and fire brigade coming down here and they need the space to whizz through."

Mr Falcon petitioned against the initial plans for the store submitted by Lidl in 2001 and said that it was quite likely he would do the same again when it lodges its latest plans, expected to be sometime in the next few weeks.

A spokeswoman for Lidl said that it was very pleased with the response to the open day.

"We were overwhelmed with the response. We got really good feedback. It was really positive," she said.