THE DEATH knell has sounded for Worcester's major farming and countryside store.

Ever since Worcester cattle market closed, more than three years ago, the future of the store in Dolday has been precarious and now bosses have announced they are about to sell the site.

The shop - which will close by the end of this year - is renowned for selling agricultural, garden and equestrian products, as well as clothing and its own animal feeds.

Finance director, David Lenham, said the city-centre shop will now be used as a clearance centre for the group's remaining 34 stores in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. It will no longer carry a comprehensive range of products.

"We are in an advanced state of negotiations for the sale of County Mills (the building) but we hope to relocate somewhere else in Worcester," revealed Mr Lenham, who refused to reveal who the potential buyer is.

"We will no longer be selling animal feeds and there obviously won't be such a wide choice here. We have definitely not been running stocks down.

Inconvenient

"I realise this will be inconvenient to a lot of our customers, but they will be able to shop at our other nearby bases in Ledbury, Bromsgrove and Bromyard."

Mr Lenham said shop staff have been offered jobs in other stores and 40 people who work in the head office above the retail shop would be relocated to the 35,000sq ft central distribution warehouse at Defford, near Pershore.

The news comes five years after Countrywide Farmers Holdings unveiled plans for a new headquarters.

The firm, formerly known as Midland Shires Farmers, joined forces with Kimberley Developments to publish proposals for a new building in Newport Street.

At the time, a spokesman for the company said the former mill site was not suited to modern office or retail accommodation.

In April 2000, bosses blamed the state of the agricultural industry for the closure of the co-operative's biggest feed mill when 60 workers were told they would be laid off within the month.

Countrywide has recently invested in a major redevelopment programme culminating in a huge overhaul of its flagship store in Evesham.

Mr Lenham said he was discussing the availability of retail sites with the city council.