The Claus will be out in the battle of the Santas this weekend in Haworth.

For the season of goodwill has turned sour following the walkout of the village's popular Mother Christmas.

Now there will be two rival Santa Clauses in Haworth as Sweetie Ruttan, who plays Santa's wife, stages a public rebellion.

The row began when Sweetie, Mother Christmas for the past five years, resigned her official position during a stormy planning meeting of the Haworth Traders Association on Monday.

She was angry about the traders' plans to build a grotto and charge each child £5 admission.

Sweetie claimed that when she said many families could not afford the cost, one trader replied: "If they can't afford it we don't want to see these people in Haworth".

The new "official" Santa Claus -- chosen by the traders association -- will sit in his grotto near the Tourist Information Centre.

Meanwhile, Sweetie plans to walk up and down Main Street accompanied by the man who has played Father Christmas for the past three years.

American expatriate Sweetie wanted to continue walking up and down the world famous cobbled street, in costume, giving out free sweets.

Sweetie yesterday called herself a "renegade" and insisted she would follow her usual schedule and take part in the torchlight procession on December 11.

She said: "It's for the children. They come here to spend money in the shops, so we give them something.

"We even went out on Christmas Eve because we wanted the last children in the street to see Father Christmas before they went to bed."

Sweetie, who was paid £100 last year to spend several weekends playing Mother Christmas, accused newer traders of wanting to change things because they were jealous of past successes.

She said: " Why take away what is good? Why should they suddenly say you have to pay £5 to see Father Christmas?

"They're making enough money anyway, they don't need to charge for a grotto. Having a Mother Christmas makes them a lot of money because people come back year after year."

Haworth Traders Association chairman Kevin Hensby admitted the grotto was being organised in order to get more people into the village's shops.

But he insisted the actual grotto would only cover its costs, with any profits going directly into future events to benefit visitors and villagers. He said the toys would cost about £4, and associated costs included providing costumes, insurance and building the grotto.

Kevin said the decision to organise a grotto was made early this year following several years of requests from visitors.

He said: "Rather than Santas walking up and down the street, I said let's have something spectacular in one place.

"It's something fantastic for the kids. If you come here you want more than just a sweetie from Santa. Things change, you have to move on. We can't do Santas walking up the street forever. We've sent 15,000 brochures out with Santa Claus on."

Kevin said the traders' committee had been happy for Sweetie to walk in Main Street for a couple of hours each day so long as she also spent time in the grotto.

Sweetie plans to be in Main Street with a Father Christmas, starting from 2pm tomorrow.

The official grotto will be open every Saturday and Sunday afternoon in a converted garage behind the Changegate fish and chip shop.