A town centre department store will close its doors within two weeks.

Great Yarmouth's Debenhams store, in Market Gates, began advertising a closing down sale in October after news of the closure was announced in April.

While no official date had been revealed at the time, it was understood the store would close on January 24.

However, the store will now close on Wednesday, January 15, with 'last few days' signs now installed in the store's windows.

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Debenhams announced in April it was shutting 22 of its worst-performing stores and overall planned to close 50 as part of a restructure to secure the chain's future, with the loss of up to 1,200 jobs nationwide.

While three stores were closed in December, the dates for the remaining closures has now been announced.

The store's other Norfolk shops, in Norwich and King's Lynn, are to remain open.

Speaking when the closure was announced, centre manager Nick Spencer said he was actively looking for alternative uses for the unit.

At the time, a number of shoppers expressed disappointment at the news.

Ron Cox, from Great Yarmouth, said: "It will be a big loss for the town because it sells quality clothing.

"We shopped there quite a bit so it is disappointing."

Town centre manager for Great Yarmouth Jonathan Newman, echoed the statement in April.

He said: "The recent struggle of the Debenhams department store chain with falling sales and record losses has been widely covered in the national news and whilst it seemed inevitable that this would result in store closures it is obviously disappointing to learn that Great Yarmouth is one of the 22 locations earmarked for closure next year."

The closure comes 11 years after Debenhams made a triumphant return to the town.

Its re-opening in the shopping centre - 23 years after it pulled out of King Street - was heralded as "a new dawn" for Yarmouth.

On the day the ribbon was cut by the town mayor some 50 people queued outside, eager to rummage the rails as well as explore the new £16m revamp to the mall.

At the time the new shop was said to have created 90 new jobs.