A BUTCHERS has closed its doors in Yate Shopping Centre after its owners said they could no longer afford the "sky high" rent.

Kevin and Wendy Mitchell, who ran K and W Butchers, shut their doors for the final time this week.

The couple, who live in Bristol with their two young children, say they now face losing their house after taking out personal loans and credit cards to pay the £700 a week rent.

Mr Mitchell told the Gazette: "We knew it wasn’t going to work a couple of weeks after we moved in.

"The 147,000 people the shopping centre told us come here every week must just go to Tesco.

"We do a good trade here but it is not good enough for the rent in Yate Shopping Centre."

The family moved in two years ago after giving up their business on Filton Avenue, Bristol, which they ran for 20 years.

"We came here because we thought it would be so much better," he said.

"But now we will end up on the dole and won’t be able to get a job."

Mrs Mitchell said: "We pay £26,500 rent a year when in Chipping Sodbury, two minutes up the road, the butchers pay half that.

"We are charged £7,000 a year in service charges and we signed up to a 10-year lease."

However Mark Hull, group property controller for Dominion Trust, owners of the shopping centre, said it was a case of "sour grapes".

He said: "If Joe Public doesn't support the independents there's not a lot we can do. I think they were badly advised or not advised at all when they took the shop."

He said passing trade in Chipping Sodbury was "a fraction" of Yate's, which is why the rent there is cheaper.

And he said the number of people who visit Yate Shopping Centre each week was 220,000, far higher than the 147,000 the couple claimed.

"Not everyone goes down to South Parade, we accept that but we never claimed that they do," he added.

Mr Hull said they had taken out proceedings through the courts to recover money owed to the centre as they had "no other option".

The closure of the butchers shop means there will be another empty shop front on the south side of the shopping centre. LewMarks fruit and vegetable shop closed down last month, Adams children’s clothing store is empty after the company went into administration in the New Year and other shops to have closed include Heli Beds and Motorworld.

But Mr Hull added: "We have all the right ingredients here and the centre is well supported."