Deal High Street bid a sudden farewell to another heritage brand this week with the demise of family favourite butchers JC Rook & Sons.

Customers looking to grab their lunchtime favourites from the Kent wide chain were "gutted" and "gob-smacked" to find the doors of all 11 branches closed on Monday.

The company announced that morning via social media that it had gone into administration.

A fall in trade throughout the pandemic was to blame, chiefs said, with the majority of the firm’s 155 staff now made redundant.

Famed in the town for its jumbo sausages, burger puffs and range of traditional meats, the reaction outside the Deal branch was one of shock and sadness.

Chris Walsh, 22, who would buy his lunch from Rooks in Deal most days, said: "I'm gutted. There's usually queues outside the door."

Another man, 75, from Ripple, who asked not to be named, described the closure as a "tragedy".

He said: "I'm certainly going to miss their pies and pastries, like everybody else I think.

"They've been part of the town and part of the character of the town for so long.

"There's a lot of pressure on businesses now, not just because of Covid but in general."

Peter Sidgewick, 74, from St Margaret's Bay, said: "Genuinely, I'm shocked, not to say gob-smacked.

"It's really sad to hear especially for the people who are going to lose their jobs.

"It seemed to me to be an exceptionally popular store. People would come and buy their food for lunchtime.

"The meat here was really good, the sausages particularly.

"And my late wife was very partial to the belly pork.

"It's staggering to me that it's had to go. The people that work here must be utterly shell-shocked."

Susan Kingsland, 75, who used to run a butchers in Portobello Road in London, said: "I can't believe it.

"You see so few butchers now and I think it's a real shame because they make things you don't see in the supermarket.

"Especially at Christmas. People still want decent Turkeys, not frozen ones.

"And they work so hard. Its absence will make a difference to the town."

JC Rook & Sons has been established for more than 55 years after opening its first butchers in Dover in 1965.

The Dover branch was originally in the town centre but moved to Market Square in more recent times.

Brian Martin, who would often buy is lunch there, said: "Rooks is a brand that I grew up with and it was always good value. It's a real disappointment to see it go."

Deal's shop opened in 1966, buying out the butcher Mr Wood.

The small shop soon become double fronted, taking over the space next door, previously occupied by Dewhurst butchers, in the 1980s.

It remained an important landmark in the High Street with queues, especially at lunchtime, often extending out of the doors.

Peter Jull, chairman of Deal and Walmer Chamber of Trade, said: "I am surprised, knowing that the Deal branch was the star of the show in the past and remains popular with a wide range of users."

The firm also had outlets in Broadstairs, Folkestone, Gillingham, Herne Bay, Hythe, Maidstone, Gravesend, Ramsgate and Sittingbourne.

Neil Gostelow and Will Wright, from Interpath Advisory, have been appointed joint administrators.

They said: “The company suffered trading losses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, primarily due to constraints from lockdown closures which were then exacerbated further through the Omicron variant in late 2021, during what would be their peak season in the run up to Christmas.

“The directors concluded that with the deteriorating trading position, the company would need to go through an insolvency process.”