The owner of a Swindon angling shop fears he has become a victim of the town's success.

Improvements being made at the south end of the town mean the area at the back of Dave Cleaver's shop, the Swindon Angling Centre, is now inaccessible to customers.

Mr Cleaver is hoping to get permission from the council to allow his customers to park temporarily outside the shop front in Sheppard Street, but says if he cannot, the future of his business is in jeopardy.

If the shop does have to close, he says it will also have a serious knock-on effect for Swindon's young anglers, for he would be forced to abandon his role in organising the Liden Junior Angling Club.

"I have been here at the shop for 14 years and I have been down on my takings this year," he said. "Because my business is quite specialist, people travel from a long way to come here. If they can't park here, then they are just going somewhere else."

The Liden Junior Angling Club, based at the lake in Liden, is open to youngsters from all over the area and currently has around 80 members, who meet once a week during the summer to go fishing at some of the lakes in and around Swindon. From his Sheppard Street shop, Mr Cleaver organises daily licences for the seven lakes around Swindon as well as the junior's club.

Coun John Taylor (Lab, Central) is helping Mr Cleaver. He said if the shop had to close, the loss to the young anglers in Swindon would be a tragedy.

Council spokesman Andrew Bennett said: "A large amount of the car parking in the area is scheduled for development. But there are quite a few car parks in the area, so it is unlikely that parking will be allowed on Sheppard Street."