Thousands of shoppers and a hundred traders will be disappointed because Wembley Market has been forced to shut indefinitely due to an emergency council order.

Brent Council issued a stop notice on Wendy Fair Markets this morning which demands the market, held in the Unisys Buildings in Brentfield Road, Neasden, ceases to operate from this Sunday onwards.

The market has existed for 42 years and up until four months ago ran from the car parks in the vicinity of Wembley Stadium owned by Wembley City.

Tessa Darby, a director of Wendy Fair Markets, said: "Wembley City didn't want us on the site anymore because they thought the market would clash with the new London Designer Outlet.

"Finding a site of a larger enough size within London is difficult and we found the Unisys Buildings, which haven't been used for nearly 20 years."

The weekly market, which runs from 9am to 4pm and now has 100 stalls, had been operating under a temporary licence for four months.

Wendy Fair Markets has submitted a planning application to the council for a temporary change of use of the site to regularize its use but Brent Council has since served an enforcement notice on the company, which has been appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.

However, before the outcomes of those two cases are known, Brent Council e-mailed the stop notice to Wendy Fair Markets instructing them not to run the market or face a £20,000 fine.

"We don't think they've served the notice correctly," said Mrs Darby.

"They say there's been complaints but they haven't shown us any evidence.

"The legislation says the stop notice should be served in writing three clear days beforehand.

"We could go to Judicial Review but it's impractical and costs a lot of money.

"We'll appeal the stop notice and we can apply for compensation."

Mrs Darby said there is no customer parking and the market advertises this, and encourages visitors to use public transport, in the exact same way as Wembley Stadium.

Banners are being produced to be hung on the gates of the market to inform customers of why it is being suspended this Sunday.