The boss of a long-running family store who is being forced to downsize and make redundancies claims Canterbury is one of the most expensive places to trade, with “ludicrous” parking charges.

Haberdashery and homeware specialists Closs & Hamblin, which has eight shops across the south, only relocated to St Margaret’s Street four years ago.

But chairman Bryan Hamblin says the family company - founded in 1933 - has had to cut costs after suffering a 30% drop in customers.

“We feel we have been forced to take action now and it is very sad because this will necessitate a large number of redundancies in our wonderful team when we vacate St Margaret’s Street,“ he said.

The firm has opened a smaller shop in the Marlowe Arcade and is only operating reduced floor space in St Margaret’s Street until the landlord finds a new tenant for the three-storey building.

He says the city council “has led the attack on the motor car”.

“Parking prices have been ludicrous for years,” he said. “I wonder if they believe all these vans delivering online orders are not polluting the city’s air more than private motor cars.

“The problem is that we are now only seeing 70% of the customers we saw in 2019. The fact that office workers, particularly the public sector, are not required to work from their offices is a further dramatic blow to the high street.

“People have got used to shopping online during lockdown and it’s a hopelessly unfair playing field.

“The bigger picture is Canterbury is one of the most expensive places in the UK to trade.

“The failure of the government to reform the business rates has hurt a city like Canterbury more than most.”

He also blamed the government for failing to tax international digital sales giants like Amazon and Boohoo who he claims have destroyed traditional retailing

But on a brighter note, Mr Hamblin says the haberdashery side of the business is still strong, and it will now focus on curtains and blinds which has long been its core trade and what it is renowned for.

“We have a large team of local curtain makers and curtain and blind fitters who we believe we will keep busy.”

Canterbury City Council's lead councillor for parking, Barbara Flack, says the authority's charges are in line with other Kent towns.

"Canterbury continues to be well placed to thrive as we come out of the pandemic and has a bright economic future"

She said: "Getting the right balance on parking charges is always tricky as there are several factors to consider - the economic vitality of the city, traffic congestion and air quality, and the need to bring in income to fund vital services such as rough sleeper support, housing and waste collection.

"We consider all the options every year, consult on the proposals, listen carefully to what we are told in response and strive to find the right mix of charges."

She said the council has this year reduced the price of parking in more than 1,000 city centre spaces - around 40%t of the total supply - in order to encourage people to return to shops, cafes and restaurants.

There is also now free park and ride on some Sundays and cheap parking on Thursday afternoons.

Meanwhile park and ride "continues to offer great value parking" at just £4 a day for a car and up to six passengers.

She added: "Each year we compare our charges with other historic towns and cities and other parts of Kent to ensure we are competitive, and this research shows we are consistently in line with what happens elsewhere.

"Without knowing the ins and outs of Mr Hamblin's company, it is impossible to say for sure the extent to which car park charges have affected his decision, but we suspect some of the other factors he referred to are likely to be more significant than how much it costs people to park.

"In fact, our ANPR data shows that the premium car parks like Watling Street and Queningate, which have the highest prices due to their prime locations, are consistently well used, which would suggest that people are not put off by charges and are actually prepared to pay a bit more for convenience.

"What we also know is there remains a lot of interest in the city as a place to do business and several new businesses have either recently opened or are in the pipeline.

"This shows Canterbury continues to be well placed to thrive as we come out of the pandemic and has a bright economic future."

Read more: All the latest news from Canterbury