A HIGH street store bowed to public pressure from parents and children's charities yesterday and withdrew "Little Miss Naughty" knickers aimed at seven to eight-year-old girls.

But Bhs declined to withdraw padded bras from the same range - based on the children's cartoon - which have concerned many parents.

The row erupted after Linda Foster, of Gateshead, spotted the bras in the store's branch in Northumberland Street, Newcastle.

She said: "Girls shouldn't be thinking about lingerie at their age or wanting to enhance their cleavage."

The bras, priced at £8, are sold to match knickers which start at age seven to eight. The cup size for the range does not go past a size A.

The left cup has a picture of the cartoon character with a heart next to it and the right has the Little Miss Naughty logo.

The sale was criticised by children's charities Kidscape and Childline, who both said the underwear line is ill-advised and likely to cause offence.

Michelle Elliott, director of Kidscape, said: "You have to wonder why a young girl of under ten would have need for a padded bra and it is silly for a High Street company like Bhs to be selling products like this.

Julie Reynolds, 30, a practice nurse from Durham who has two children, said: "We've got a little girl who's five-and-a-half. She has little crop tops and things like that.

"But they certainly shouldnot be padded to accentuate the shape or anything like that."

A Bhs spokeswoman said: "Bhs takes its responsibility to supply appropriate clothing to children very seriously."