A WREXHAM city centre bakery closed suddenly due to an incident of violence at the shop made its position " no longer tenable".

Chatwins has ceased trading in its High Street shop with immediate effect following a "recent incident where an individual threatening violence caused significant property damage".

The company, which spent nine years on the High Street, said the incident jeopardised "the safety of staff and customers" and made its presence there "no longer tenable".

READ MORE: Businesses leaving town over anti-social behaviour problems

Chatwins said it's looking for new opportunities to stay in Wrexham, but outside the city centre. 

A statement from the company said: “Here at Chatwins we are fortunate to have been well placed to react in a timely manner to the post-pandemic challenges of which your readers will no doubt already be aware.

“Our retail and bakery teams have had to work incredibly hard to ensure that the overwhelming majority of our shops continue to trade successfully, but unfortunately our shop in Wrexham city centre has faced some specific circumstances which mean we are no longer confident in our ability to trade effectively while keeping our staff and customers safe. As a result of this the incredibly difficult decision has been made to cease trading at the site with immediate effect.

“Almost every employer in the UK has faced recruitment issues since the pandemic, and Chatwins is certainly no different, but we have found Wrexham to be more of a challenge in this respect than many of our other locations. In addition to this we have faced ongoing issues including the continued discarding of rubbish and other waste by unknown parties in the alleyway to the rear of our premises, creating unsanitary conditions which our shop and maintenance teams have faced an ongoing battle in clearing.”

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It continued: “Following a recent incident in the shop where an individual threatening violence caused significant property damage, jeopardising the safety of staff and customers, we felt our presence in the city centre was no longer tenable.

“Regrettably this affects not just our customers but also the shop team for whom we now seek relocation opportunities in our other nearby shops.”

It added: “While we are saddened to leave the immediate area we would like our incredibly loyal Wrexham customer base to know that we continue to look for other local opportunities outside the centre; in the last eighteen months we have opened three highly successful new shops in other areas which have created over twenty new jobs, so don’t be too surprised to see the Chatwins name appearing over a new door somewhere near you soon.”