Maldon shopkeepers have united to promote the town in a bid to boost trade which they say has suffered as a result of the High Street roadworks.

Essex County Council has been carrying out pavement improvements since January but traders fear people have been turning away from the town to avoid the disruption.

Around 53 traders met last week to thrash out ideas and voice their views.

Now a small number of them plan to set up a promotions group to encourage people to come to town and say ''Maldon is open''.

The group will meet for the first time next week to look at ideas.

Karen Clarke from Quest Motors said some of the suggestions include giving free gifts on special days.

Rita Maskell of Warehouse Book Company said: "We have got a lot of individual shops here, plus you have the river and barges, restaurants and walkways and once the pavement widening is done obviously it will make it easier to walk around.

"We hope we can tell people what the shops are like and that people are friendly and it's a nice town to come and visit."

Lynn Dogan, who runs Ripples ice cream parlour, suggested the idea of a town gift voucher and said it would show people traders have a rapport.

The town promotion group will meet next Wednesday to thrash out ideas. The roadworks are due to finish by the end of the month.

Traders link: Aiming to promote the town are Rita Maskell, Mary Powell and Lynn Dogan.

By Amanda Brandon

Reporter's e-mail: amanda.brandon@essex-chronicle.co.uk

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