H&M to close Ipswich town centre store before Christmas

The announcement that a well-known High Street clothing store is to close before Christmas was disappointing, a council leader said.

H&M has informed customers it would close the doors of its Tavern Street store in Ipswich on 27 November.

It said it was in response to a "rapid change in customer behaviour".

David Ellesmere, leader of Labour-run Ipswich Borough Council, said it "would have been much better if they'd been trading in the run up to Christmas".

He said it was "certainly disappointing" that the fashion giant, which occupies the art-deco building on the corner of Tower Street, was to shut.

A spokesperson for the Swedish firm, considered to be the world's second-biggest clothing retailer, said it wanted to be "where our customers are".

"We continuously evaluate how we should invest in stores and sometimes decisions must be made to enable long-term growth," they said.

"This means that we sometimes need to close stores. This decision has been made for our Ipswich store."

H&M has about 4,664 stores worldwide.

The loss of the H&M store in Ipswich is the latest in a line of High Street names to leave the Suffolk town.

Debenhams closed, along with more than 100 around the country, at the start of last year.

Patisserie Valerie, Cotswold Outdoor, Lakeland and Jack Wills are among other names to have gone in recent years.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]