WHITEFIELD'S only major supermarket is to quit the town.

And Kwik Save store bosses have blamed the state of the Elms Precinct for their decision.

Staff were told of the planned closure, to take place next month, and posters went up to inform shoppers of the news this week.

A spokesman for Kwik Save said: "The store will cease to trade on September 15 and the staff will be made redundant a week later on September 21.

"The landlord of the building has demolished properties on the precinct, leaving us on a rubble site. Kwik Save feel they can no longer operate in that environment."

The store employs four full-time and eight part-time staff but the spokesman said the company would try to place them in other stores if they wanted to move.

The nearest Kwik Save stores are in Radcliffe, Blackley and Middleton and the closure means many people will have to travel further afield for their groceries.

The owner of the precinct, multi-millionaire Mr Albert Gubay, currently has a planning application with Bury Council but it is believed he is to submit a revised plan in September via his company, North Western Properties.

One local resident said people were "fuming" about the Elms' latest casualty. "Local people are up in arms about this. There are so many elderly folk around here who used the store. What will they do now? The precinct was already looking dilapidated but are we to expect Gubay and his bulldozers to move in again?"