Free Park and Ride services and street entertainment have been unveiled as part of a plan to woo shoppers back to Shrewsbury during a special open day.
Traders and council bosses hope the event will entice people to ‘shop in the loop’ again after it was claimed roadworks in the town centre have put many people off visiting it.
Ideas for the day, which will take place on Saturday, May 31, were discussed by a group of business owners and Destination Shrewsbury officials at a meeting on Tuesday.
The event is an attempt by traders to encourage shoppers back to the town after it was revealed last week that footfall in the two main shopping centres had fallen by 20,000 during the first week of the new traffic system operating.
Many independent traders have expressed their anger about the negative effect that the new road system has had on their businesses.
The meeting on Tuesday was attended by bosses from the Parade, Darwin and the Pride Hill shopping centres, representatives from Wyle Cop Retailers, the indoor market and other businesses in town. Jon King, spokesman for Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, said: “We are reminding people what is so special about shopping in Shrewsbury.
“We will also be producing a brochure that will go out to towns within an hour’s drive of Shrewsbury to market the town.
“These include Wrexham, Chester, Telford and Stoke.
“The county council is producing banners that will go around the town and the road works should all be finished in time for that weekend.”
David Griffiths, Destination Shrewsbury manager, said: “We are looking at funding for the event coming in from a variety of sources – traders are very keen to try to get business back to Shrewsbury.”