Staff at the town's 30-year-old florist, The Posy Bowl in Knockhundred Row, said they were told only on Thursday afternoon the shop would close just two days later.

It is a further shock to the trading community, where retail fortunes are currently flagging. Some traders believe the opening of the Cowdray Ruins has done more to hinder trade than help by moving the centre of the town's tourism away from its shops.

Tomas Diaz at The Coffee Shop told the Observer: "Tourists are not coming into the town when they get off the coaches to visit the Ruins – it is a fact the tourism attraction has shifted."

The closure of the flower shop came just five days after the new West Street premises of estate agent Henry Adams shut down suddenly last Monday.

Senior partner Richard Williscroft said the 'speed and severity' of the downturn of the housing market led to the closure.

"Like many national agents we are all facing cuts and redundancies at this time. With the UK economy generally and the housing market in particular as it is, everyone is currently feeling the pinch. Any agent who says otherwise is living in fantasy land."

He said Henry Adams regretted the implications of the closure, 'not only for our loyal and dedicated team of staff in the office but also the people of Midhurst who have offered us such support'.

The Posy Bowl was owned for 28 years by Lynda Harvey, who sold it two years ago to the Bognor Regis-based company, The Fresh Flower Team.

This week Lynn Tulett, part-owner of The Fresh Flower Team, told the Observer the shop had failed for a variety of reasons and put part of the blame on the closure of the King Edward VII Hospital in March 2006.

"It was unfortunate the hospital closed and generally the economy of Midhurst is not doing particularly well at the moment," she said. "When we took over the Posy Bowl we were led to believe there would be four to five journeys to the hospital a day."

But Midhurst's remaining florist, Kate Rogers at Global Flowers in North Street, said she was not finding the going so tough.

"As far as I am concerned, my flower business is doing very well," she said.

Meanwhile neighbouring businesses in Knockhundred Row, Mr Diaz at The Coffee Pot and Patricia Thorpe at the silver and jewellery store, are anxious to point out they are still very much open for business.

But Mr Diaz, who has owned the 35-year-old Coffee Pot business for the past 18 months, claims the economy is in a downward spiral.

He believes the current Midhurst town-centre improvement study is only scratching the surface of the problem.

"The project is concentrating how the town could look. I bet if we all painted our shops, it would make the town look better, but it wouldn't make any difference to trade because that is not the factor. It is much deeper than that."

He claimed the opening of the Cowdray Ruins had shifted the town's tourist attraction and more should be done to include the town on the Cowdray Ruins tourist trail.

Mrs Thorpe added: "The emphasis on tourism has changed since the opening of the Ruins and we need to encourage tourists throughout the whole town."

Chairman of the Cowdray Heritage Trust Colin Hughes told the Observer the Ruins project had been carried out to attract people to Midhurst, 'and it's up to the town to make visitors want to stay here and visit the shops'.

He said the trust was also developing a heritage trail with the Chamber of Commerce which would see the production of a guide taking tourists through the town and offering vouchers for shops.

"It is all being planned so people will visit the Ruins and visit the town as well," commented Mr Hughes.


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