Traders in a fashionable shopping district are preparing to fork out £350,000 on hired security guards in an attempt to stamp out antisocial behaviour.

Uniformed guards will patrol Brighton's newly-formed Business Improvement District (BID), which covers most of North Laine, North Street and The Lanes.

They will work with the Business Forum's Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) by logging criminal activity and passing the information to Sussex Police.

The contract, which will last five years, will be awarded at the next meeting of the BID board on September 21, following pitches from several security firms.

Traders voted in favour of establishing the five-year BID scheme in May this year.

In doing so, they agreed to pay a levy on their business rates - about £300 a year - to spend on improvements such as Christmas lights, security and marketing.

The BID will raise at least £933,000 in the next five years.

Already more than a third of that amount has been spent on security, which, behind Christmas lights, was the main priority for traders in the BID.

The security guards will patrol seven days a week.

They will be trained in first aid and fire procedures and will also adopt an "ambassadorial function", providing information and advice to visitors.

The number on the streets will vary according to the time and day of the week but it will be a minimum of two people.

Churchill Square employs security guards but they have never appeared on the streets of Brighton before It remains to be seen how the public will react.

Tony Mernagh, chairman of the Business Forum, which is running the BID, said the guards, while uniformed, would not be wearing "jackboots and peaked caps".

"They will be a visible presence to meet and greet visitors and challenge people involved in antisocial behaviour.

"I don't think people will object to that.

"They will be on the BCRP radio network so if a shopkeeper is having trouble getting rid of someone who is causing trouble, they will be there for back-up."

Earlier this month the BID board tasked PR and marketing company Priory Partnership in Frederick Terrace, Brighton, with raising the area's profile.

In July, Blachere, responsible for lighting the Eiffel Tower in Paris, was awarded a contract to supply, install and maintain Christmas lights in the BID for five years.

Meanwhile, The Argus has received a copy of a letter sent to Brighton and Hove City Council from a disgruntled trader who is preparing to fight the BID "all the way".

Soly Daneshmand, who runs clothes shop Ju Ju in Gloucester Road, said every channel available to extract money from "struggling traders" was being "exploited".

The BID vote, which was held in May, was overseen by the Electoral Reform Service and of the 174 businesses that took part, 111 voted yes.

BIDs, which originated in the US, are governed by an Act of Parliament.