Gangs of teenagers blamed for terrorising shopkeepers are to be banned from a town centre at night in a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Youths who refuse to leave certain roads will be arrested under the curfew which comes into force today and runs until November 7.

Police say groups of up to 50 gathering in Lancing town centre prompted them to reissue a curfew order.

Posters in shop windows along South Street name Lancing railway station and Somerfield in North Road as two places where teenagers are banned from meeting.

Several streets between Annweir Avenue and Grinstead Lane have been declared no-go zones, along with Monks Recreation Ground, off Crabtree Lane, in a move to protect shoppers and businesses.

Gina Warrell arrived at work last week to find vandals had smashed the front window of her South Street pet shop with a boulder.

It was the latest in a string of attacks she says she is powerless to prevent.

She said: "It is soul-destroying. I have been here for 17 years and I have been through some rough times but the police cannot control these kids.

"It makes you feel like you are working for nothing when you have boarded-up windows but I want to fight it.

"We all want something done."

Kim Feasey has owned Walter Wall Carpets in South Street since 1986 and often arrives to find his doorway littered with mess from the night before.

He said a Section 30 order, issued under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, was first enforced there in April but has failed to curb the behaviour.

Mr Feasey, 46, said: "The kids congregate outside and play football using the front window as a goal - you end up spending 90 per cent of your time cleaning up or talking to the police and only ten per cent of the time dealing with business."

Police have met teenagers in Lancing to announce the latest order and will be talking to Adur District Council officers and area councillors next week.

Chief Inspector Sharon Rowe, district commander for Shoreham, said: "We took considerable resources from Lancing to police other areas with the recent murder in Southwick and the conference in Brighton and the kids moved into the town centre again.

"This is a powerful order where we can direct children under 16 to go home. Some parents say we are victimising children but we say we are being tolerant and making sure other people can use this area.

"The Section 30 orders are like sticking plasters which deal with the problem short-term but it doesn't work alone and the only way I will support its return is if councillors take a local action approach."