LOVE Antiques in Felixstowe closed due to declining trade

Tony Love had run LOVE Antiques in Hamilton Road in Felixstowe for almost a year, but said that while the shop had "broken even" to begin with, trade started to tail off in November.

Now the store is set to become a bakery.

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He said half of the antiques in the store had been supplied by a company called Helios & Co, while the other half had come from LOVE Antiques.

Antiques in the shop sold included paintings, bespoke coffee tables, book cases, console tables and chests of drawers.

Mr Love said: "Our antiques were to a standard comparable to anyone in East Anglia.

Tony Love said he had closed LOVE Antiques because of declining trade and business rates (Image: Tony Love) "We were hoping, but we did not necessarily expect it to work.

"We wanted to take the site because it was a prime site in Hamilton Road, but we were a little bit dubious about whether it would work.

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"We broke even and were happy about that, but in November trade tailed off and it wasn't too effective so we decided to call it a day."

He said he had spoken to business owners in other parts of the country who were also finding trading conditions especially tough.

The businessman is now planning to focus on politics as he stood as a candidate for the Reform Party at the recent general election for the Ipswich constituency, having been an independent candidate for the Suffolk Coastal constituency at the previous election.

"People kept coming in and saying what a wonderful shop it is. It is marvellous, but with all the independents, if you don't use them, you lose them and that would be my very kind message to the people of Felixstowe," Mr Love added.