ANGRY traders in Worcester have hit out at plans to open a new market only three days a week, one saying he had been 'stabbed in the back'.

But market director, Dermot McGillicuddy of LSD Promotions, said the city's market traders would eventually make as much money in three days as they used to in five.

The market re-opens on Wednesday, December 3 and will be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. 'Up-market' Sundays and 'antique' days on Fridays are scheduled to start in Easter.

Worcester City Council says LSD Promotions has extensive experience in market management, and organises regular markets in Kidderminster, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Wolverhampton, Tamworth, Stourbridge and elsewhere.

Mr McGillicuddy, director of the newly appointed firm, said: "We think it will be successful. We need to be given a chance to prove what we can do. We have very happy traders on the other markets we have. That's very difficult in 2014, in a recession. That is what we intend to do in Worcester, absolutely. As a company, we never rest. Eventually, in three days, they will make as much money as they did in five."

Half-rent will also be offered for the first four months of trading (£15 instead of £30 for Mondays and Wednesdays and £17.50 instead of £35 for Saturdays). All 40 stalls will be kept together in Angel Place in what Mr McGillicuddy said would be a homecoming for the market, now undergoing a £555,000 revamp.

Mr McGillicuddy said the three day opening was not 'set in stone' and the company did not rule out the possibility of stalls being open extra days in future.

However, some stall-holders are furious following the announcement today (Tuesday). They had to be found temporary homes spread out through the city centre, including outside the Guildhall during the regeneration work, which began on Tuesday, September 9.

Paul Gardner, 48, known as the 'Pet Man', who had been trading five days a week before the refurbishment of the Angel Place market, says he has lost 80 per cent of his trade since moving to a temporary home in Bank Street just outside the CrownGate Shopping Centre in the city centre.

He said: "We need those five days to make the market viable. Basically ,we have been told, after being stuck up here and losing money for weeks on end in the hope of getting back to Angel Place, that we can only trade three days a week. They're not even the busiest days of the week. What else can this council do to its local market traders and hard-working small businesses because it doesn't seem to want them here?"

Mr Gardner had been trading three days a week under the interim arrangements while Angel Place is revamped but had wanted to return to five when the work finished.

He added: "People in Worcester don't want antiques. They want everyday stuff at a reasonable price. I feel they're squeezing us out by the back door. Nobody knows what this street is (Bank Street, where he is now trading). It's the back of beyond. I wanted the stall outside Santander. They have stabbed everyone in the back."

Duncan Squires, 60, who had been running Angel Flowers, ran his stall seven days a week for 10 years and is now trading on the High Street.

He said: "It's down to three days a week full stop. I'm disappointed. Flowers are an impulse buy. It's passing trade. I will go down from seven days to three. Imagine yourself if the Worcester News said from next week you're working three days a week instead of five or six. We will do our best to carry on."

Another trader, who declined to be named, said: "If someone told you that you could only work three days a week instead of five, how would you cope?"

It is also hoped there will be themed markets such as farmers’ and French markets over Bank Holiday weekends. These will be held in a number of locations across the city, including the riverside and Worcester’s High Street.

LSD Promotions will also operate the Christmas Fayre from 2015 onwards.

The company will now make contact with previous Angel Place traders and will also be looking to attract new traders too. LSD Promotions has strong contacts with a number of coach operators, and will be approaching them once the events programme is fully established.

David Blake, economic development and planning policy service manager at Worcester City Council, said: “The company has a very strong track record for delivering high quality, well-attended markets in a number of towns and cities in the Midlands."

Mr McGillicuddy, director at LSD Promotions, said: “The new offer, with its unique branding, will put Worcester’s markets on the map and attract a new range of shoppers to the city centre”.