MARKET traders have defied orders to take down protest banners in a bid to save the Market Hall.

Banners saying "Save Our Market Hall" and "Sign Our Petition" adorned many stalls but traders were ordered to take them down -- or risk losing their lease.

Some defied the orders but others were more determined and vowed to do anything to save their livelihoods.

Agora Shopping Centres Fund plan to take over the Market Hall and turn it into an upmarket shopping centre with designer shops.

Posters saying "The Market Hall needs a facelift not a transplant" are displayed all around the market.

Petition stations have been set up at 70 of the stalls and more than 3,000 people have signed them in just two days.

David Wood, spokesman for the Bolton Market Hall Tenants Association, said: "We put all the banners and posters up on Thursday night but were told that they were in breach of our lease and we could not put them up.

"They said they said the signs were covering the names of the stalls and we would have to write to ask for permission.

"The deadline for objections is September 9 so we haven't got the time to mess about writing in.

"Some stallholders have been intimidated by their threats and it's really not fair on them. Others have got a bit more bottle and are keeping the signs up whatever."

"We are entitled to free speech and will let the Bolton people decide for themselves what they want."

Two areas of the building, say the Market Hall bosses, are in desperate need of repair and that they have been unable to rent some of the units on the outer side of the hall.

Mr Wood said: "We agree that the hall needs some money spending on it. In the Tenants Association, we put have put away £40,000 a year for the last 15 years so have £600,000 to spend on doing the hall up and for repairs but the Council are the ones who have to make the decision on how we spend that money."

Around 500 people took part in a survey by Agora, which was carried out in March.

Nearly half described the selection of shops as average when compared with the offering at other nearby shopping centres.

A massive 79 per cent said they would visit the centre more often if a wider selection of retailers were on offer.

More than half of the shoppers who took part in the questionnaire also said they thought the standard of the hall was below average and would benefit from restoration and development work.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: "To be fair, traders did ask if they could put banners on the pillars in the Market Hall abut we could not condone this. they also wanted to collect petition signatures and if they want to do that at their stalls that's up to them. We would like to convene a meeting with the traders next week to meet representatives of the market traders association and look at these points. We do not want to stifle devate. We feel we are being reasonable about this and taking a neutral position."