A MALMESBURY cafe owner has abandoned expansion plans and blamed vacuum cleaner tycoon James Dyson.

Sally Marks, who runs the Summer Cafe in High Street, fears redundancies caused by Dyson's decision to shift vacuum cleaner manufacture to Malaysia will hit her trade.

Redundancies at Lucent Technologies also contributed to her decision.

She applied last year for planning permission for the expansion, which was granted by North Wiltshire District Council.

Miss Marks said: "We could do with more room but I am not certain about the future. There are a lot of jobs set to go in one town and I am sure this will have some effect on trade.

"Even if the people from the two businesses don't come here, their families, friends and visitors do. Now is not the right time to be expanding."

The Summer Cafe opened more than four years ago, and last year Miss Marks opened The Med restaurant in Malmes-bury's Silver Street.

She also owns Rocco in Cirencester.

Almost 600 people have been told they face losing their jobs at Dyson since the company announced it was moving its vacuum cleaner production to the Far East.

Alan Woodward, chairman of Malmesbury Chamber of Commerce, said he felt that traders were waiting until the redundancies came into force in September before making decisions.