Planners are being urged to be lenient over a franchise coffee shop that opened without permission.

Staff at Caff Nero, in High Street, Winchester, are collecting signatures to lobby the city council against closing them down.

Scores of customers have backed the campaign - and now both MP, Mark Oaten, and his potential General Election Tory rival, George Hollingbery, are, too.

Meanwhile, the owner of another caf nearby, where trade has declined since Caff Nero opened, is stunned by the firm's disregard for planning law.

The council served an enforcement notice because Caff Nero did not obtain permission to sell food and drink.

Planning policy says the shop should only be used for non-food retailing - it was previously a clothing store.

The coffee shop opened in May, 2003, and serves around 5,000 customers every week.

City MP, Mr Oaten, believes that Caff Nero's popularity makes it a special case.

"While rules on planning are important, in this case, Caff Nero provides a popular service and it would be madness to close them down.

"I've spoken to the council and urged them to take a pragmatic approach and I'm encouraged that a decision will be taken very soon," he said.

Prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Winchester, Mr Hollingbery, called into Caff Nero this week to offer his support.

"It just seemed so bureaucratic to me and so idiotic," he said.

He attacked the city council's Liberal-Democrat administration for not getting its priorities right.

"The council has a wider responsibility and duty to turn its attention to the economy of Winchester."

Mr Hollingbery added that, to his knowledge, independent cafs in Winchester were not losing customers to Caff Nero.

One man who disagrees is Roy O'Connor, owner of Caf Centro, in nearby St George's Street. He says his trade has fallen by 20 to 25%.

He thinks Winchester already has enough coffee shops.

"I can't believe that a plc company has allowed themselves to get into this situation," he added.

"Maybe they they think they can bully the council into giving them retrospective permission."

A public inquiry, which may decide the fate of Caff Nero, is scheduled for November 30th.

In the meantime, the coffee shop has submitted a retrospective planning application. If the council approves it before the end of next month, the inquiry will be unnecessary.

A council spokesman said they could not comment on the Caff Nero case, because an application was pending.

He added that, in a typical case, if a building's use breached planning policy, the council would approach the owner.

If planners could not persuade them to comply with council policy, then an enforcement notice would be served, he said.

Paul Ellis is a planning consultant acting for Caff Nero. He said they were the victims of a policy aimed at deterring restaurants from opening in High Street, reducing daytime trade.

"We are not a restaurant and we don't open in the evening," he added.