Worthing businesses are losing thousands of pounds every week by not opening on Sundays all year round.

The claim comes from Worthing traders who say shops and businesses are losing out by not taking advantage of hundreds of potential customers who are in the town centre each weekend.

A number of stores open seven days a week during the peak summer months and at Christmas but for the rest of the year their doors are closed.

But other traders who are open all week throughout the year say if Worthing is to become a financially viable town and a threat to larger shopping centres such as Brighton or Crawley, then it needs to embrace Sunday trading wholeheartedly.

Shaun Smith, who runs Olivers Bar in Montague Street, is open seven days a week and says businesses are losing a lot of potential trade. He said: "I think people should be opening up because at times there are potential customers who simply wander aimlessly around the town. We are often asked what shops are open and these we can count on one hand.

"We may not have the perfect town, but when the sun is shining there are customers everywhere, especially on a Sunday."

David Taylor, manager of Boots in Montague Street, said more than half of his customers shop on a Sunday and many of the chain's stores take more cash on Sunday than on a Monday.

He said: "We have been open on Sundays in Worthing for the past four years. The growth of business on Sundays has far exceeded the rest of the week, although the first year of trading can be difficult until your customers can get used to you being open.

"Unless Worthing becomes a Sunday shopping town our market share will continue to be eroded by larger towns and out-of-town locations. Customers want Sunday shopping and we need to meet their desires."

Small businessman Gary Shapland, who runs the Wax Workshop said he began opening because many of his existing customers seemed to be going to neighbouring towns on a Sunday.

Like many other traders in the town he runs a small business and has a small staff and admits during the first six to 12 months there was no growth in his business but now into his second year he has seen a growth of up to 15 per cent a month and the average spend is higher on a Sunday.

He said: "People are more relaxed with more time to look around and we have a lot of visitors to the town as well as local customers coming in."

A spokesman for the Worthing Town Centre Initiative said the association understood there are difficulties with Sunday opening as many businesses are not only governed by staffing and budget constraints but also company

policy. He said: "It is not what everybody would like and it is not an ideal situation but it is the way that some businesses will have to go."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.