THE UK Independence Party has denied being "provocative" by setting up a campaign stall opposite a Polish delicatessen in Worcester.

UKIP chiefs in the city set up a table in St John's on Saturday in a pre-Christmas bid to grow its support on the west side.

But the party has come in for criticism on Facebook for situating their stall opposite the Polish Delicatessen, which opened in August in the old St John's Bakery retail unit.

James Goad, UKIP's parliamentary candidate for Worcester, said the aim of the mission was all about growing its support "on the west side of the river" ahead of next year's elections.

Activists spent two hours, from 9am until around 11am, next to the William Hill betting shop on the St John's road asking passers-by for backing.

Mr Goad said: "We were by the tanning salon and betting shop as that was the only place where we could be without getting in the way, it was not the idea to be provocative at all.

"We just wanted to be visible, hand out leaflets and raise our profile on the west side of the river.

"We had a mixed reaction, plenty of support, cars were going past tooting their horns in support but we had some verbal abuse too.

"We're putting good foundations down and are seeing increasing support on the doorsteps."

People on the Worcester News Facebook site got into a debate about its location yesterday, with one poster calling it "cruel" and claiming it was a deliberate ploy by the anti-immigration party.

The Worcester UKIP branch has refuted the criticism, with a statement from the party saying the Polish Delicatessen is a "great advert for the positive side of immigration" and insisting being near it was irrelevant.

It added: "Unfortunately there are a large minority of people who think we're out to target immigrants, this is nonsense.

"We merely want to manage immigration effectively and end the 'open door'."

The delicatessen's management said the campaigners had not caused them any problems whatsoever - but they had struck up some new customers from it.

Co-owner Iwona Gruszeczka said: "We've got good regular customers and things are going very well."

UKIP had activists from both the Worcester and Wyre Forest branches out on Saturday.