TRADERS and residents in Stow Square are gearing up for a disruptive September.

Film crews are coming to the town next month to film crucial scenes for a television adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge, for ITV, just days before a massive cheese festival takes place.

Most of the filming will take place inside and outside the King's Arms, which is serving as the inn of the same name in the novel. Crews expect to film through the afternoons and into the early hours of the morning during the shoot on September 12, 13 and 14.

The production is stars Ciaran Hinds, of Soldier Soldier fame.

Sally Head Productions Ltd location manager Hugh Gourlay said: "We have got a very good cast of people you would recognise as faces, rather than names you would recognise."

He told a meeting of the town council last week: "We want to make this film in Stow. We like the location and we want to make it work for everybody."

Digbeth Street will also be closed to traffic during filming to maintain the period feel of the novel.

Town council chairman Vera Norwood, who runs a business in The Square, said: "There will be a certain loss of business, but I hope we can support this."

The filming comes two weeks before large parts of The Square are due to close on September 29 and 30 for Cheese 2000, the focal point of this year's British Cheese Festival.

Parking will be extremely limited in The Square and traffic on the police station corner will be one-way, with the only vehicle exit through Digbeth Street.

Town councillors have voiced serious concerns over the arrangements, particularly plans to close the perimeter road past the Old Stocks Hotel and tourist information office.

Vice-chairman Alan Rose, a member of the chamber of commerce, said: "As far the chamber is concerned, they really don't like this at all." He added: "As much as I'm in favour of the cheese awards coming to the town I do object to them taking us over."

Some traders fear the loss of vehicle access will hit their trade but awards organiser Juliet Harbutt, who lives in nearby Churchill, said she expected up to 6,000 people to visit the town on the Saturday when the cheese marquee in The Square will be open to the public.

She said the decision to close the perimeter road had been taken on safety grounds after talks with the police.

"There will be so many people, it will be physically difficult to drive through anyway," she added.

This is the first year the annual awards scheme has been held outside London and organisers are hoping that Stow will become a permanent home for them. More than 300 cheeses will be available to taste and buy and there will also be special tastings, workshops and special events.