MEET the stars of a fly-on-the-wall documentary with a difference.

Shopkeepers and residents in St George's Road in Kemp Town, Brighton, have agreed to let TV crews film their everyday lives for the new BBC series Style Street.

During a week of filming, businessmen and volunteers will turn a car park at the end of the street into a French-style "village" square.

Experts will decorate people's rooms and give health and lifestyle advice. Astrologer Russell Grant will even do horoscopes.

Shopkeepers hope the coverage will publicise Kemp Town's unique atmosphere.

Roland Wallace, chairman of the Kemp Town Business Association, said: "Being here is like living in a village and a town at the same time.

"People think of themselves as Kemp Towners first and Brightonians second. We are hoping this show is going to add to the sense of pride here."

The producers say Style Street will not be just another docu-soap like Paddington Green or Changing Rooms-style improvement show.

They say the community will be involved at every stage.

Businesses, European funding and charitable donors have raised £250,000 to revamp St George's Road and its surroundings.

Roland added: "It's the perfect place to make a programme like this. People know each other so well. We have a butcher, baker, vicar, greengrocer, cobbler, newsagent and anything else you would find in a village."

The square will become known as Fishmarket Square because it was once the site for gutting locally-caught fish.

The obvious pride in St George's Road marks a change in mood in what was becoming known as a declining part of Brighton just a few years ago.

Cliff Faires has traded in the street, first as a butcher and now as an office equipment supplier, for 20 years. He said: "When we first came here Kemp Town was fantastic. Everyone knew everybody else.

"Then in the mid-Eighties it became a real bedsit land and shops started closing. But now we've got loads of traders coming into the area and I wouldn't live anywhere else."

Giles Pike, a researcher for programme-makers NMTV, said: "We chose Kemp Town because it's a unique community. Like a village there's loads of gossip and it's full of characters from all backgrounds.

"People seem proud of the area. The atmosphere is very Bohemian, which makes great television."

Kemp Town is the only place in the South East to be chosen for Style Street, which will later visit other parts of Britain.

Cliff Faires' wife Linda said: "We're looking forward to being part of the show as long as it doesn't end up like Paddington Green."

The five half-hour episodes of Style Street set in Kemp Town will first go out on BBC Digital's UK Style show in May. Producers hope it will eventually be broadcast on terrestrial TV.

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