The future of Ashford’s BHS store remains uncertain.

This week a spokesman for the retail company said that in order to continue operating in the town they would need to see a ‘significant’ reduction in their rent.

They added that they are now in talks with their landlord at the County Square shopping centre, off Ashford’s High Street, where it has been for more than a decade.

However, with the chain filing for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) at the high court only last week - in an attempt to restructure its finances - things are not looking good for the once thriving department shop.

BHS bosses claims they need rents on some of their branches slashed by as much as 75%, otherwise it could close 40 of them across the country.

A spokesman for BHS told the Kentish Express, Kent Online's sister paper: “We are doing everything we can to keep all of our stores open.

“Unfortunately our Ashford store is one where we need a significant reduction in rent to reduce it to a market rate, so its future depends on successful discussions with its landlord.”

Fears for BHS’s future were revealed last year after it announced that 52 of its stores in the UK were under-performing, and as a result could be closed, sold or down-sized.

Ashford was one of the 52.

The list was drawn up by its new owners, Retail Acquisitions, which bought the struggling chain from boss Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group for just £1.

In the last year, rumours have increasingly circulated that the Ashford branch could close.

This was not helped when signs saying “Closeout – everything must go” appeared in the window.

However, BHS said the signs were simply a display of “market terminology”.