CALLS are growing to save the world-famous cheese-rolling festival.

Organisers were forced to cancel the 200-year-old event last week over health and safety fears.

About 15,000 people from all over the world flock to Cooper's Hill, near Brockworth, to watch the event every May Bank Holiday.

Last night hoteliers and traders near the site said they feared they would lose a huge amount of business.

Tony Barnfield, landlord of The Royal William, near Painswick, said his pub was always packed full over the weekend.

"It will have a huge affect on business. Last year we did a barbecue and people from the cheese-rolling came along afterwards," he said.

"I agree with the health and safety concerns and it needs to be better organised but it is really going to have a bad affect on us."

Alan Bishop owns Beaumont House Hotel in Shurdington Road, Cheltenham. He said the hotel was always booked up for the cheese-rolling.

"I think it is very sad to see it disappear," he said.

"The tourism chiefs should be proactive here and drive it forward to make it a success next year."

Melanie Meigh, who owns Prinknash Bird and Deer Park said the cheese-rolling gave tourism a boost but should be handled more professionally.

"This is not an amateur day out. It has got to be organised properly by people who are used to dealing with large numbers of people," she said.

Melanie has complained about spectators blocking off her car park, making it inaccessible to her customers.

"I have nothing against it as a form of tourism, it reminds people about the area - but it does have an affect on my business," she said.

Richard Jefferies, on the event's organising committee, said various ideas had been put forward to save the historic festival.

He said meetings were frantically taking place to find a solution to the crowd problem.

The day after the announcement, the official cheese-rolling website had 2,858 hits compared to 389 last year.

"There have been suggestions it could be a ticket-only event but there is a problem with that because of access to the site," he said.

Councillor Mark Hawthorne, cabinet member for planning and regeneration at Gloucestershire County Council, has called in experts to help revive the huge attraction.

He has arranged a meeting this week with the organisers, police and Gloucestershire Highways to see whether they can overcome some of the barriers threatening its future.

"What we have is an event that is bigger than it has ever been before.

"It has gone from being something which could be organised locally to an event which needs experts in running this kind of thing."

He has enlisted the help of the chairman of Marketing Gloucester, Mark Owen, to advise the organisers on the next step.

"This is a great event which puts Gloucestershire on the map. I am trying to see who I can pull together to get it back up and running."

Mr Hawthorne did not rule out the idea of keeping this year's event.

He said: "If we cannot do it in the short time we have, at least we have started working on it for 2011."

Readers of The Citizen's website thisisgloucestershire.co.uk reacted to the news this weekend.

Jen, from Gloucester, said: "What a shame. I live in Brockworth and enjoy seeing all the participants after the event meandering around covered in mud and smiling through it all. The cars park anywhere and everywhere but it is only for a single day (not even a whole day). Let us hope that next year sees a bumper crowd."

Jeremy, from Hucclecote, said: "It's a hill, it's common land, people want to run after a cheese down it as has been done for hundreds of years and common people want to go and watch the spectacle. What's changed?"

Nobby, from Gloucester, said: "All they have to do is limit the numbers of spectators coming up to stand on the hillside. From the fields below there is plenty of room to see what's going on."

A tax payer, Gloucester, said: "When a competitor breaks their neck it will quickly become an event that nobody wants to be associated with. I'm all for dangerous pursuits but most involve training and supervision, however, throwing yourself down a hill the gradient of a fairly difficult ski run begs the question 'Are you using common sense?'."