TRADERS fear that a supermarket's decision to quit the town centre in favour of a purpose-built store on the outskirts of town could threaten their livelihood.

Supermarket chain Asda will move from the Newgate Centre, in Bishop Auckland, to a new 45,000sq ft store, on the former site of Wilson's Forge, South Church Road, in early November.

The old premises will stand empty throughout Christmas and New Year until work on a £2m facelift for the mall starts on January 5.

Refurbishment work is expected to take 20 weeks and it is hoped it will encourage retailers to expand and will attract new businesses. But traders in Bishop Auckland are worried they will lose too much business during that time to recover when a new firm moves into the outlet.

Sarah Osborne, manager of Raygale Pharmacy, said: "The timing is going to be awful, Christmas and New Year is the busiest time for all retailers.

"If people shop elsewhere they might not come back once the work is done.

"In the long run the refurbishment could be positive but shoppers need to know the rest of us are still open for business throughout the work."

Another shopkeeper, who did want to be named, said: "If we suffer badly during those six or seven months I may not be able to afford to stay in business so my staff and I will suffer."

Simon Leonard, Asda's property communications manager, said: "We appreciate the concerns of traders and are trying to speed up the process as much as possible.

"Hopefully the investment will benefit the town long-term and create hundreds of new jobs.

"Meanwhile we will look to work with traders to overcome their fears."

Speculation over who will take over Asda's site in the mall points towards home and garden chainstore Wilkinson.

A spokesperson said: "The company would welcome the opportunity of opening in Bishop Auckland. However, we cannot comment on any specific site or scheme at this time."

Wear Valley Hotel, which has been derelict since a fire in 1994, is also owned by Asda and was expected to make way for offices.

But the company has resubmitted plans to Wear Valley District Council to include retail units on the ground floor.