The Whites of Kent in Sandwich officially shut up shop for the final time last Saturday.

The town centre retailer was forced to close due to a lack of business, after 45 years in the town.

Residents have said “It’s the end of an era” now the ladies’ wear and linen shop in New Street has gone.

Pictures of the empty shelves in the window were posted on social media site Facebook.

Hazel Jones commented: “Such a shame, it was a good shop.”

Judith Scollard said: “I used it from time to time. Good old-fashioned quality goods. But, if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Muriel Taylor said: “A really good shop, now gone. A loss to local people.”

Many have speculated on what it will now become. It is believed the building has already been sold but work is needed to make it habitable for another shop and no planning application has been submitted to the council yet.

The closure was announced in February when company director Nigel White said the shop - which started trading in 1970 - had been losing money for the last few years.

He said: “There’s nobody walking about in Sandwich. Even if we’ve got everything in the shop at a penny we’re still not going to sell it, even at those ridiculous prices.

“It’s just not paying its way. The footfall in Sandwich isn’t great enough to pay wages and pay business rates.”

Mark Moorhouse, chairman of the Sandwich Chamber of Commerce, said at the time that this was a “high profile casualty” and would leave a “significant void” in the town.

Now residents are speculating what will fill that void in the near future.