Vandals pulled down a Christmas lights display after traders spent hours putting them up.

It was another setback for shopkeepers in The Lanes, Brighton, after their first set of lights fell down.

Traders in Meeting House Lane came to work to find their display wrecked two days after lights in East Street came crashing down around shoppers.

Peter Brynin, of Brighton Lanes Antique Centre, said: "We came in on Monday and all the lights had been pulled down and now none of them work.

"It was definitely vandals because all the Christmas trees had been ripped down.

"We do all this to try to enhance The Lanes and look what happens.

"We worked hard and drove people mad trying to get better lights this year and we only had them up for a couple of days.

"They really looked super - everybody commented on them."

Mr Brynin said CCTV could have helped catch the culprits but traders were still in talks with the council about installing cameras.

Rudolph Egeler, from the Market Place store, said: "The people who did this just want to make the place as ugly as they are.

"The lights were the best ones we've ever had but were too low in the first place.

"I asked the workmen to put them higher to stop people pulling at them but they didn't."

He said it was important for The Lanes to look nice to attract shoppers but signs of vandalism had the opposite effect.