A BOOK shop in St Albans will close its doors at the end of the month and its manager will be looking forward to retirement after 30 years of being in the trade.

Guy Marshall, manager at Christian bookshop Quench in Holywell Hill, said a number of factors have resulted in the shop's closure.

However competition from internet booksellers has been the major contributing factor, Mr Marshall said.

He added: "The number of people coming into the shop has dramatically dropped in the last few years, but the main problem we have is people now prefer to shop on the internet.

"In Holywell Hill we don't have any parking for shoppers and we don't have as much space in the shop as we used to at other locations within St Albans."

Mr Marshall said before the store moved to Holywell Hill it was located in London Road, opposite the former Odeon cinema, where there was room for a meeting area where people could sit and have a coffee.

Quench will close on December 31 and Mr Marshall, who has been selling Christian books in St Albans for 30 years, will retire.

Clothes shop Dash in Christopher Place is also closing in coming weeks, as is Bon Marche in St Peters Street, the Review can reveal.