Plans for a war memorial in a shopping mall near Brighton have been rejected by its owners.

Peacehaven Town Council and the local branch of the Royal British Legion agreed to jointly fund the £8,000 memorial at the town's Meridian Centre.

But a scheme failed when the owners said it was not appropriate for a shopping centre.

The reply from London-based Mellerish and Harding, who manage the centre, has angered councillors and the vicar of Peacehaven and Telscombe, the Rev David Hider, who had wanted a higher profile site.

The new memorial was to have been in the Meridian Centre underneath or to the side of the mosaic clock close to the entrance of the community halls.

At present the war dead of Peacehaven are remembered on a plaque on the wall of the cramped churchyard at the Church of the Ascension in Bramber Avenue.

It contains 26 names and the Royal British Legion has come up with the names of at least another 18 Peacehaven war heroes since 1939. The plaque has run out of space for names and the new memorial was to have contained the names of all those from the town who died while fighting for Britain.

The existing churchyard memorial will remain.

Calls for a new memorial are made after each Remembrance Day service at the Church of the Ascension, which attracts greater numbers each year. The church can seat 130 but in recent years 300 have tried to pack in.

Town clerk John Shepherd said: "Councillors are angry that after a lot of discussion as to where there should be a permanent site, the owners have said they do not want a memorial in the shopping centre.

"We will be asking them to think again. We wanted a central site to enable Peacehaven to have a service which the whole community can attend comfortably, under cover."

Mr Hider said: "I am disappointed. I hope they will think again."

Frank Eaton, president of Peacehaven Royal British Legion, said: "Some of our members did not think the shopping centre was appropriate. We will look around elsewhere in the town."