It's the street with most buzz in Brighton's most bustling quarter. But beyond the garish shopfronts, Gardner Street in North Laine looks more than a little dejected.

While thousands of pounds have been spent sprucing up its neighbours, the trendy thoroughfare, bathed in pink light at night from Komedia's neon sign, has missed out on investment.

Now the shoppers' paradise with its vegetarian shoe stores, dedicated Mod shop, organic restaurants and swish cafes, is in line for a long-awaited revamp.

Brighton and Hove City Council has agreed to spend £50,000 on the first stage of design work.

Traders have long complained they feel like North Laine's poor cousins and are using the impending Jubilee development to bolster their cause.

Councillors will decide on Thursday whether to go ahead with consultation on proposals which include widening and mending the narrow, wobbly pavements.

There is also the possibility of closing the road to traffic.

Council staff have met representatives of the North Laine Traders Association and North Laine Community Association to discuss further concepts.

Simon Battle, deputy chairman of the environment committee, said: "North Laine has become incredibly popular with pedestrians and reducing traffic in the streets has increased the pleasure of wandering around this unique area.

"The project will also be designed to include facilities such as dropped kerbs and tactile paving to improve access for disabled visitors."

If agreed, the plans will go on public exhibition during November.

NLTA secretary Peter Stocker said the group had been asking the council for improvements for years but made a new approach in light of the Jubilee development.

He said: "The street still looks like a Fifties or Sixties shopping street with uneven paving and not very good lighting. We've got much nicer paving in Bond Street and Sydney Street."

Mr Stocker said: "Bond Street is pedestrian-priority and it seems to work well for them. It is very much down to each street.

"It's very hard to deliver to the back of stores in Gardner Street, so I imagine some access would have to be retained."

NTLA Gardner Street representative Paul Reading, of Plate Expectations, said: "Bond Street and Sydney Street have had improvements in the last few years.

"Gardner Street is the missing piece in the jigsaw, particularly given the huge investment in Jubilee Street."