A MAJOR high street name has announced it will be closing one of its Bradford city centre shops after 25 years.

The Argos store in the Kirkgate Shopping Centre will shut in July, with staff “re-deployed” to other local stores.

The catalogue store also has a branch in Forster Square Retail Park.

Based on the first floor of the shopping centre, the Argos Extra store is between Primark and New Look.

It will be the latest high profile name to leave the centre, following the closure of Costa Coffee last year and the relocation of WH Smith from the centre to The Broadway in 2015.

An Argos spokesman told the Telegraph & Argus: “We can confirm we’re consolidating our stores in central Bradford.

“We’re working with colleagues from our Kirkgate store to give them opportunities to redeploy to a number of our other local stores including Forster Square Retail Park, which is less than a mile away.”

Catherine Riley, Kirkgate Shopping centre manager, said: “As part of Argos’ national redevelopment programme taking place they have announced they will be closing their Kirkgate Shopping branch.

“The catalogue retailer has been in the centre for over 25 years, but we continue to look forward to welcoming new retailers.”

Outside of Bradford city centre, Argos has stores in Shipley, Keighley and Greengates.

The catalogue retailer was taken over by Sainsbury’s in 2016, leading to a number of high street stores closing and Argos stores opening within the chain’s supermarkets.

Earlier this year Sainsbury’s reported that Argos was facing a “challenging” market, although declining toy sales were offset by strong sales in games consoles and audio technology.

Val Summerscales, Chair of the Bradford Chamber of Trade, said: “This news is disappointing for any customers who don’t have cars. If you don’t have a car to get to the Forster Square Argos then this store was ideal if you wanted to get something small you could carry.

“It was very beneficial for customers to have two Argos stores in the city centre.

“It is a shame they are moving all their trade in the city centre into the one space. However it is understandable if their lease has run out.”

Despite the high profile departures from the Kirkgate Centre, last month saw one of its biggest empty units filled when Poundworld relocated from its unit on Kirkgate into the 10,000 square foot former Blue Inc store, which faces onto Darley Street.