HANDBAG retailer Salisburys is to shut down its Bolton store after more than 18 years.

Profits at the shop have slumped to an all-time low and senior bosses have confirmed they will not be renewing their lease in the New Year.

Retail operations controller Steve Hall said the Market Street store did not fit the company's requirements.

And, in the most gloomy prediction so far made on the future of Bolton as a shopping mecca, he said: "The Trafford Centre has been a huge drain and I can't see that changing if I'm honest.

"Towns in Greater Manchester as a whole have suffered and we have seen that situation first hand in Bolton.

"The town centre is just not the thriving place it used to be. There is too much good competition out there."

Salisburys, which has units at the Trafford Centre and at Manchester Airport, is due to close 11 of its town centre stores across the country in January.

But Karen Wheeldon, town centre manager for Bolton, stressed the news did not spell death for town centres.

She said: "When a new development opens it will always attract customers away initially but they will eventually start coming back.

"We are competitive and will remain so. Bolton is more than shops -- it offers a whole package."

It is understood that all eight of the Salisbury's Bolton workers -- including one who has been at the store since it opened -- will be made redundant.

Some of the part-time staff had been offered employment at the Trafford Centre but turned it down because of the travelling it would have involved.

Mr Hall said: "Closing the shop was not a decision we took lightly. But, in light of falling profits and the small size of the shop, there was little else we could do."

When asked if the firm had considered moving into larger premises in the town, he said: "No. If the criteria fits in future years we may come back but as it stands, that is unlikely."

The shop follows the lead taken by former town centre stalwarts Whiteheads and C&A which are also due to close in the New Year.

The director of Whiteheads, Richard Whitehead, had also blamed the Trafford Centre.

C&A's closure, meanwhile, will affect all of its British stores.

Salisbury's announcement comes just 24 hours after Bolton was hailed as one of the North-west's best and popular places to shop by Manchester-based property advisers GVA Grimley.

The report -- Town Centres 2000 -- praised the work of Bolton's Town Centre Management Company in successfully marketing the centre as a place to shop.

It added that Bolton was threatened by continuing pressure from the Middlebrook retail park.