Roys of Wroxham is preparing to abandon its store in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk,

if plans to bulldoze the site are approved.

In July, the town council revealed it was considering a wider property development scheme that would replace the shop in Risbygate Street with a

larger 60,000 sq ft outlet.

The plans were waved through by the town council and the final say now

lies with St Edmundsbury Borough Council's development committee. A decision is expected by Christmas.

Roys has the option of buying and extending the store, which clocks up sales of £3.4m per year and is one of eight operated by The Grocer Top 50 retailer. But the retailer has concluded that such a course would be too costly. Roys' chairman Brian Godfrey said it had taken the lease with five years left to run and had hoped the landlord would be willing to renew it.

"That clearly wasn't the case," he said. "It's difficult to keep staff morale up when eventually we will probably be serving notice to quit and recruiting staff is nigh on impossible."

Godfrey said the chances of finding another site for Roys in the area were remote. But he added that even if the development scheme was approved, Roys could keep trading from the store for some time.