Calls have been made to reduce parking costs in a town centre in a bid to increase footfall and boost business.
Banbury's Old Town Association has written to Cherwell District Council urging it to lower the price of council-run car parks which have seen two increases in the past year.
Chairman Barry Whitehouse described the increase of parking costs from £3.50 a day to £5 over the last couple years as “quite a hike”.
He said the council should reduce the charges to their previous price and also suggested introducing a one-hour-free trial.
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It follows the closure on Monday of Rustic Bean cafe which blamed a drop in visitors partly due to the cost of parking.
In a message to its customers, it said: "It's just not viable for us to stay open and, honestly, Banbury isn't the place to run a thriving business anymore".
A spokesman from the council said: "Council-run car parks in the Cherwell district are competitively priced, with benchmarking carried out against neighbouring towns in the area, and we have worked to make sure that our car parks remain more affordable than those run by other providers in Banbury."
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