THE town of Knutsford was brought to a unexpected halt as hundreds of travellers arrived to attend a funeral.

On Thursday a service for 33-year-old traveller Felix Rooney took place at Knutsford Methodist Church on Princess Street before family and friends headed to Tabley Hill Cemetery for the burial.

But before the service Cheshire East Council closed Princess Street to allow mourners to gain access to the church, while Cheshire Police drafted in officers from other town's in case any incident occured.

A wake was then held out of Knutsford at Lostock Sports and Social Club in Northwich. 

Mourners at the funeral included Paddy Doherty, from TV show 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' and Big Brother 8 winner.

Reactions across the town was mixed with some traders saying they had shut up shop while others had had a positive experience and extra business.

Most of the traders along Minshull Street decided to close their doors both for the safety of staff and fears that their shops could be pilfered.

Elsewhere, pub landlords either remained closed all day or worked on restricted hours to prevent any chance of a flare up between locals and travellers.

One shop reported the theft of trays of sandwiches and chocolate while other businesses faced parking problems after cars were illegally parked in the centre of town and on double yellow lines.

One shop trader said the expected influx of between 700 and 1,000 people created fears, which in the event, resulted in gangs of people wandering around the town with bottles of beer and sporadic threats of violence against one another.

One pub landlord told the Guardian: "We didn't have any difficulties with the travellers and in fact some of them stayed overnight. It's a different culture but difficult to get your head around when some of them subsequently took their shirts off at 2.30am on Thursday morning to have a fist fight outside."

Another trader complained: "I pay £7,500 a year in business rates and if I wanted to close off streets I would have to apply months in advance and it would cost me money. But they come in, park their top of the range cars on double yellow lines and nobody does a thing about it. The worst aspect is that it has cost many of us a day's trading and as tax payers we still have to pick up the tab for the policing."

This view was not universally shared in the town with Angel pub manager Hamish Melrose saying if it had been better organised it would have removed some of the fears the local populace had.

He said: "We have a very effective pub watch in the town and we decided to stay closed, however, if the town business community had been give a little bit more notice, we could have organised additional security and instead of fears we could have welcomed the travellers with open arms. It seems like it was a missed opportunity because most of them are lovely people."

Some traders felt that a police decision to close the roads into Knutsford town centre from early morning had created problems during the rush hour .

Another trader added: "The early morning closure completely killed the trade in the town and at our shop and there didn't seem any point to it."