THE owner of another High Street store set to close its doors has blamed a lack of support for small businesses.

Blast Comics has handed in its notice and will be closing its store on Braintree High Street by the end of May.

Owner Richard Kayley, from Gosfield, claimed Braintree Council was not doing enough to support the town.

He said: “I spent a lot of time with the council talking about what they had done with the Mary Portas money.

“The proposals they have carried out were to refurbish the fountain at the end of the High Street and refurbish some buildings the other end.

“I am not sure anybody is going to travel from Coggeshall, Halstead or Dunmow because of those features, they come to shop.

"That is not even including the bigger towns like Colchester or Chelmsford.

"There is no incentive for people to come here from other towns. There are no shops and it costs people an arm and a leg to park.

“The only businesses who want to come to the town are charity shops or hyperlocal services like beauty salons and hairdressers.

"I cannot remember the last time a new retailer came to the High Street.”

Braintree Council received a share of £1.2 million Government cash in 2012 aimed at regenerating High Streets.

Blast Comics is moving its stock to another unit further down the High Street it uses to run its online sales.

“We have customers that come to us from London, Norwich or even Sussex just to see us. but there is nothing to make them stay in the town.

“We have decided we cannot stay there supporting the council with our business rates if we are going to get no support from them.

"If the council made moves to actively encourage people to come into the town centre and gave the customers a proposal that would encourage them to come then the rates become reasonable.”

Tom Cunningham, councillor responsible for economic development, said “We are faced with a number of challenges which limit what we are able to do in isolation so we intend to engage with the town’s stakeholders, to build effective partnerships and deliver tailored support to practically improve conditions on the ground.

"Ultimately it is our ambition that we will be able to come up with a sustainable partnership to provide co-ordinated management of the town centre; a range of interventions to help address current issues; and, begin drawing people back into the town centre.”