AN influx of takeaways in St Albans Road is killing trade and destroying the area's ambience, it was claimed this week.

Shopkeepers and existing takeaway owners are now calling on Watford Borough Council to curb the number of fast food outlets that open in the future.

Established takeaway owners claim increasing competition is making it hard for them to survive, while retailers say any more will drive the few remaining shoppers from the area.

The situation has become so bad that some smaller businesses have already had to close.

And those that can afford to stay open are being forced to consider staff redundancies, in a last-ditch attempt to stay in business.

At an emergency meeting of the St Albans Road Traders' Association on Tuesday, shopkeepers discussed the future of the area.

They criticised Watford Borough Council for continuing to allow more fast food businesses to open and said they were preparing to petition Watford Mayor Dorothy Thornhill on the issue.

Terry Honour, who works in The Gas Shop in St Albans Road, said: "My gut feeling is the council is going to destroy St Albans Road as a shopping area.

"They have not got Watford's best interests at heart.

"If we want to keep this as a shopping area, we have got to do something soon. If we don't stop this soon, no one is going to open anything other than fast food shops in this area."

For full story see Friday's printed version of the Watford Observer.