HIGH street stationery shop WH Smith is to close its Bournemouth town centre shop, sources have told the Echo. 

The store in Old Christchurch Road is also being marketed to let by the estate agent Goadsby as being available “for the first time in over 100 years”. 

WHSmith has been unable to confirm the closure, but sources close to the business said it will be closing soon. 

This would not be the first WH Smith to close in Bournemouth this year, with the Boscombe branch in Christchurch Road being shut down as the building was being demolished. 

A spokeswoman for WH Smith did not confirm whether the Old Christchurch Road branch would close when approached with questions by the Echo. 

She said: “We keep our store lease agreements under regular review, including at our Old Christchurch Road store in Bournemouth and will share updates on any changes to the store in future.” 

The reported closure also puts into question the future of the Post Office, inside WHSmith. But a spokeswoman for the business said it will be “open as normal”. 

She said: “We have not received notification that the WHSmith store, where Bournemouth Post Office is based, is closing.” 

According to Goadsby, the shop is available to let by way of a new full repairing and insuring lease, term and rent review pattern by negotiation, at a commencing rent of £150,000 per year. 

Edd Watts, the manager at Goadsby, said he should be contacted about securing the shop. 

He added the shop is in a “prime position” in Old Christchurch Road, being close to McDonald’s, the train station and soon-to-be The Ivy. 

WH Smith in Old Christchurch Road recently made headlines when chocolate thieves were caught on camera snatching bulks of confectionary and abusing staff.

Meanwhile, WH Smith recently posted like-for-like sales growth of four per cent for the 13 weeks to June 1, with a five per cent rise across global travel stores and a one per cent drop for its high street business. 

The group is coming up against strong comparatives from a year earlier, when trading was boosted by the rebound in global travel following the pandemic. 

WH Smith said that, while sales fell overall across its UK high street business, including online, its bricks and mortar stores “performed well”, with like-for-like revenues flat over the third quarter.