People wearing hooded tops -- which are sometimes associated with troublemakers -- will not be banned from Oxford's shopping centres, say managers.

Bluewater Shopping Centre, in Kent, and the Trafford Centre, in Manchester, have outlawed the pullovers, popularly known as 'hoodies', as well as baseball caps and swearing in a bid to reduce antisocial behaviour.

But Brendan Hattam, manager of the Westgate centre, said he would not be following suit. "We have no plans at the moment," he said. "I have been working as a shopping manager for 20 years and I once worked at a centre where that was the policy, but it's incredibly hard to enforce."

Mr Hattam said the Westgate was not troubled by antisocial behaviour. "As far as shopping centres go, in my experience, we don't have a great deal of problems."

He said the policy was an interesting idea, but added: "When I heard about it I thought, 'I have been down that road and it is not as easy as it sounds'." Graham Atkinson, of the Clarendon Centre, said there was no need to ban hooded tops in the complex because there was no problem with antisocial behaviour.

"We have never had any problems in the past," he said.

Wendy White, manager of Templars Square shopping centre, in Cowley, also does not intend to introduce a ban.

"I can identify with Bluewater's concerns and I understand it is going through a bad patch," she said.

"As shopping managers, we don't want to be negative. We don't have a lot of antisocial behaviour, but sometimes a minority can create a disproportionate amount of nuisance."

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has supported Bluewater's new policy.

He said hoodies were part of a threatening uniform.