A ONE-OFF event in Church Street on Thursday, September 6, will not be paving the way for future pedestrianisation of the Priory quarter of Christchurch.

Christchurch Community Partnership, through its increased prosperity action group, is joining forces with shops and restaurants to give a taste of continental café culture in the town with the late-night-opening evening.

But while organisers and participants will be gauging the success of tomorrow night with a view to repeating the venture in Church Street or other parts of the town, they are keen to quash rumours that it is a dummy run for making the area a car-free zone in the future.

Church Street will remain open during the evening and Paul Riley, chairman of the increased prosperity action group, said: "We organised this event as a one-off to encourage more people to make use of this part of the town centre during the evening and to see how it would work out.

"The idea of pedestrianisation of the area was never in our minds and not one that the action group would have any jurisdiction over."

Chamber of Trade president and Church Street shopkeeper Nicky Sale doubted pedestrianisation would be feasible or popular with businesses and shoppers and temporary road closures for special events in the past had caused chaos for traffic on the narrow one-way streets.

Mayor Cllr Josephine Spencer said: "When we go abroad we can see how visitors and residents alike enjoy their towns in the evening by strolling around and taking coffee or drinks outside. We have such a beautiful town it's a pity that so many of the shops and cafés close at 5.30pm.

"This event will be a taster of how things could be if more businesses remain open during the evening and, if it's successful, we'll look to repeat it and involve even more town- centre businesses next time."