MONDAY trading is to take place in Tavistock Pannier Market this summer, after an attempt to stop the move failed last week.

But the decision has not been welcomed by some traders, who feel they are being railroaded into six-day trading.

Town councillor Brian Trew, during last week's full council meeting, proposed the properties committee decision regarding Monday opening be overturned.

He said that in recent years, turnover in the market, working on a five-day trading basis, had increased from £200,000 to almost £500,000.

'We owe it to these five-day traders to consult with them over something that concerns them so significantly,' he said.

'They are almost unanimous that they don't want to open on a Monday. We are playing with people's lives here and we need to know what we are doing.

'I have real concerns that if we go into this with inadequate information we are going to make a big mistake.'

Cllr Jenny Metcalf pointed out that the five-day traders needed Mondays to re-stock and said it was unreasonable to expect small businesses to be forced into trading when they did not feel it was economically viable for them to do so.

'You can't work a dog to death,' she said.

But Cllr Debo Sellis asked if there were not other traders who would wish to work on a Monday.

'You don't want to flog a horse, I totally agree, but you bring in fresh ones,' she said.

Town mayor Cllr David Whitcomb said: 'For the life of me I really can't understand why the market is closed on Mondays.

'The stall holders are really putting down their own ground rules and I just think we are the custodians of the building, not them.'

The council voted by five votes to eight to reject Cllr Trew's proposal — arrangements are now being made to prepare for six-day opening in the market, starting from May 9.

Phil Burgess, treasurer of the Tavistock branch of the National Market Traders' Federation, said: 'We are unsettled and not a little hurt that we are being dragooned into this, rather than being persuaded.

'If we choose not to trade, we have to clear our stalls — and that's just not a practical option.

'And our big concern is if people walk in on a Monday and the image they see is a barely filled market, with stalls not of the normal standard, that will ultimately damage us, and the market's reputation.

'We are not deeply opposed to Monday trading, what we are opposed to is having what little business there is diluted by another day. If things were more buoyant it would make more sense, but we are in the biggest recession for years and this is not the right time to do it.'

Eddie Carruthers, the market reeve, said he and his staff would do their best to get a market running on a Monday during the summer, and he hoped the move would prove a success.

'The existing traders that go out on the square will go out on a Monday too,' he said.

Nigel Eadie, chairman of Tavistock Chamber of Trade, said Tavistock was famous for its market, and it was 'crazy' that it wasn't open on a Monday.

He said: 'In general terms, traditionally Monday tends to be the third busiest day of the week — but in Tavistock, it's the sixth busiest.'

Mr Eadie said the chamber wanted to work with the council to improve opportunities to trade and create a vibrant economy.

'The pannier market is the jewel in the crown of this town and we should be trying to use that major draw to ensure we can go from strength to strength,' he said.