A Maldon grocer is shutting up shop after just a year amid concerns supermarkets will cripple his business.

Mustafa Durmus, who runs the Maldon Express convenience store in the High Street, will not renew his lease in June after seven months of trading have proved less than successful.

The 50-year-old, who runs the shop with his wife Nurcan, 47, and daughter Monique, fears that if Morrisons moves into the former post office just doors away he will lose all his trade.

He said: “We saw the letter about Morrisons on the front of the post office so we are going to shut down at the end of March because we can’t pay the rent.

“Business is really dead and quiet, we can’t pay the rent and rates already because business isn’t good enough.

“We really can’t stay here if Morrisons moves in just down the road."

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