A BIG NAME city centre furnishings and women's clothing store is to close its doors after 22 years of trading.

Laura Ashley, the upmarket ladies' fashion store, is the latest leading store to pull out of the centre of Canterbury, fuelling fears of the so-called 'Whitefriars effect'.

A Laura Ashley spokesman said the store at the Buttermarket, which opened in 1983, was closing on February 2 because it was running at a loss because of a decline in trade.

But campaign group People Advocating Canterbury's Excellence (PACE) believes that Whitefriars is drawing shoppers and their money away from other parts of the city, such as the small and independent traders in St Peter's Street, Palace Street and Northgate.

Dr Geoff Meaden, PACE's chairman, said: "The expansion of Whitefriars has brought in a whole lot of new shops and of course it means customers are being taken away from other areas of the city.

"Canterbury has a limited market so that if people are going to Whitefriars, they won’t be shopping elsewhere – there are just not enough customers to go round."

Last month, bookseller Methvens announced it was closing its store in the High Street and pinned the blame on the Whitefriars development. Since the shopping complex was completed, Safeway and Boots have also closed stores.

Alan Clifford, managing director of Methvens, said Whitefriars had become the true retail centre of the city, while the lower High Street and St Peter’s Street consisted of little more than restaurants.

But Whitefriars insists that it is not in direct competition with other small or independent traders and says that it markets the city as a whole to potential shoppers.

A spokesman said: "It’s a matter of choice and if people want to shop at Laura Ashley then they will go there. But we see ourselves as complementing the other shops in the city not directly competing with them.

"And in our marketing and advertising we promote the whole Canterbury package not just Whitefriars. We are trying to encourage people to come to Canterbury and with more people coming here, it’s got to be to the benefit of everyone."

The Laura Ashley spokesman said that despite the drop in business at the Buttermarket shop, its home furnishings store in Wincheap was doing a healthy trade and would stay open.

The 13 members of staff at the Buttermarket are currently going through a consultation process.

She said: "Until this has been completed we don’t know how many people will be transferred to other stores and how many will be made redundant."