TRADERS at Bolton's ailing indoor market have called for the council to hand them a cash lifeline.

Worried stall holders say that unless money is spent to improve and promote the market in Ashburner Street, businesses which have been handed down through generations of traders will disappear.

Traders have hit out at Bolton Council, which they blame for years of neglect, claiming the once-thriving market has been killed off.

And Tony Crompton, owner of Crompton's Cards for the past 20 years, has called for town hall chiefs to use money saved from ending the lease of the Grade II listed Market Hall, in Knowlsey Street, to help improve facilities.

He said: "Unless some of that money comes over here to help get this market back on its feet, this place will be like a ghost town.

"We desperately need money spending on this place to clean it up, provide some free car parking and promote us." The council is due to return the lease of Market Hall to a private developer and there are plans for a multi-million revamp to create a modern shopping mall.

The Ashburner Street market has seen an exodus of traders who have struggled to make ends meet, despite a £5 million refurbishment in 1996.

Other traders said they feared for their own futures unless money was spent quickly to turn bring customers flocking back.

Geoff Unsworth, owner of Unsworth's Deli, said: "The first thing that needs to be put right is the car parking situation because at the moment we have people getting booked for nothing when they park here.

"But the place just needs to be smartened up in general and we desperately need the sort of promotion that Bury Market gets.

"All the right ingredients for a great market are here but we need some help."

Jim Fletcher, of Gittin's in the fish market, said: "I've been here for 40 years and the council has ruined this place by letting it get into such a bad state."

Council leader Cllr Barbara Ronson said it was too early to say whether money from the sale of Market Hall would be used to help boost the market's prospects.

"A private investor has come to us with a plan and we're still at the very early stages," she said.

"Nothing has been ruled in or out at this stage.

"There will be a fundamental review of all markets across the whole borough so we are left with a situation where we have viable markets that attract people to out town centres."