THE owner of a pay-by-the-minute massage parlour has spoken out about his "pain" after revealing he will close his store.

Anthony Briddle, owner of Minute Massage, said it was a painful decision to make but low footfall had meant he could no longer keep the store on Chapel Walk open.

Minute Massage offers back, foot, and calf massages from qualified therapists trained in physiotherapy, remedial, sports, and deep tissue massages on a pay-by-the-minute basis at a cost of £1 for every 60 seconds the rubdown lasts.

"The situation is really quite painful," he said.

"In the end, I wanted to create something big that had started in Worcester.

"It is actually quite heartbreaking as we don't want to shut but couldn't get trade.

"I have so much love for the people of Worcester."

Mr Briddle moved to Worcester five years ago and was inspired by pay-by-the-minute massage parlours, which were popular in Australia.

He said the concept was extremely big over there and he had hoped to bring that concept to the UK. 

The Minute Massage officially opened its first pop-up on Broad Street while Mr Briddle tried suitable locations. 

It then moved to its permanent base in Chapel Walk in May 2022.

"We had a lot of loyal customers and people travelling over not from Worcester. 

"About 80% of our customers were not from Worcester, and trade was unpredictable. 

"One day, we would make a killing, and the other, we would only get one customer in.

"At the moment, we do not have a set end date, but it is in motion."

However, this is not completely the end for Mr Briddle's Minute Massage dreams and he has opened up another store on Martineau Way in Birmingham.

It was originally hoped the new Birmingham store could have supported the Worcester branch as Mr Briddle said he was really reluctant to close it.

He also hopes to do more home visits for his customers and branch out into corporate businesses by offering staff massages.