Fears over the future of small traders are being voiced as the county marks National Independents Week - a celebration of local independent shops.

To start the campaign, Alan Toft, the chairman of the My Shop is Your Shop Campaign - which campaigns for local independent grocers, newsagents and village retailers - called in at the Budgen store in Northcourt Road, Abingdon.

Mr Toft said: "Clearly people are feeling a sense of real anxiety about the threats to their neighbourhoods and communities and want to see more done to protect and promote their local shops, services and cultures.

"People want to do something themselves to further the local cause and we know from the perspective of our 55,000 local shopkeepers across the country that they too are increasingly engaging in community activities."

The Budgen store is owned by Sarah Lloyd who bought the franchise in December. She and her 32 staff wore yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the message: Local And Proud Of It. They displayed My Shop is Your Shop badges.

Miss Lloyd said: "Our staff know many of our customers and it feels like a community. We support local people and British farmers and all our meat comes from the UK.

"We have a post office which is an added draw but we cannot afford to be complacent.

"There is a large Tesco on our doorstep and life for the small independents is getting harsher."

Ray Lindsey, who runs Haymans Fisheries in Oxford's Covered Market, said independent traders and specialist shops in Oxford would continue to attract shoppers to the city.

He said: "Increasingly shoppers are concerned about food miles and they want to know where their products come from.

"We do our best to ensure that our fish comes from boats off our own coast and the fruit and veg in the Covered Market comes from local farms.

"We have a very loyal customer base and we will keep bringing in innovations to compete with the big chains like Tesco."

The My Shop is Your Shop campaign has been running for three years. Mr Toft said: "Their contribution to community cannot be replaced by the big four giant retailers. The Budgen store in north Abingdon is a prime example."

Last month the Vale of White Horse District Council rejected plans by Tesco for a bigger store in case it would harm the viability of town centre shops.