A MAJOR high street city centre shop will close, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Next in Winchester High Street will close its doors in June as its lease runs out.

It comes after plans to turn the top two floors of the building into luxury flats wwere approved in December.

A former temporary employee at Next told the Daily Echo that the full-time staff at the shop had been informed about the closure at the end of last year.

It is understood that this could affect 15 full-time staff.

The news comes as Winchester has had a number of major retailers pull out of the city, including Beales, River Island and Monsoon in the past two years.

Next and the owners of the building, the London Borough of Southwark had been trying to find a deal, but had differences in valuations of the rent price.

Concerned Winchester councillor Ian Tait had conversations with the planning agent for the London Borough of Southwark after hearing concerns about the future of Next.

Cllr Tait said: “My take on it is that I have heard from a number of people asking me is Next going to close.

"I have contacted the property agent dealing with it for Southwark.

“The comments were that Next drive a very hard bargain and are robust in their approach and they are indicating if they do not get the deal they want, they will not renew the lease."

"Many people have approached Southwark for the whole or part of the premises, and are willing to pay market rates.

“I am sad if Next won’t renew the lease, but there are many people that want to take over the premises."

James Tibbles from Larraby Land has negotiated with Next said that the difference in the firms valuation of the rent and what Southwark could get on the open market led to difficulties.

He said: "Their expectation of rental falls some way off what we can get on the open market.

"Their point is Winchester as a town has limited opportunities as the town has evolved and as a company they have to see if they can look for a shop in the town or look at an out of town shop or one in Southampton."

"We have a substantial number of high quality interest in our scheme, we have not ruled a deal out with Next, it remains on the table but it is an increasingly significant challenge."

The Daily Echo understands the retail space is unlike to remain empty as there has been significant interest.

A spokeswoman for Next said: "We can confirm that unfortunately the store is closing in June 2017."