An action plan is to be drawn up to help traders in Birmingham's entertainment zones deal with another fullscale evacuation.

Police outlined details of the plan to bar, restaurant and nightclub owners at a meeting yesterday.

The proposals outlined by officers include identifying sites for people to congregate during an evacuation and setting up an instant messaging system to alert licensees of bomb threats.

Officers are already looking at potential areas were revellers could be directed to during an evacuation and ways of transporting them there. The sites include car parks around the Five Ways area.

Traders at the Broad Street Pubwatch meeting backed the police for taking the action to seal off much of Birmingham city centre last Saturday following a "credible threat" to the area.

The decision was also endorsed by the Midland Association for Restaurants, Caterers, Hotels and Entertainment, which represents more than 150 venues across the region.

Sergeant Adrian Wilson, from West Midlands Police's entertainment team, told the meeting police would help compensate traders for their loss of business on Saturday by allowing them to apply for "charity" extended hours.

This would allow bars to extend their hours for a specific night if they agreed to pay a sum of cash to a charity set up for the families of the victims of the London bombings.

However, Sgt Wilson said people would not be deterred from going to the Broad Street and Hurst Street areas because no bomb was found.