Budget garden and home retailer Value House is to close its Weymouth store later this year, blaming falling sales and a difficult location. About 50 people will lose their jobs.

Value House runs two other stores in Devon – at Barnstaple and Bideford, where its head office is located. The group used to run Newton Abbot garden centre Fermoys, which it sold to Blue Diamond three years ago.

A spokesman said the shop’s location and the condition of the building were the reasons for closure, according to a Dorset Echo report.

A statement said: “The store's remote location from a retail point of view and condition of the building are far from ideal in terms of modern retailing and it has been difficult to maintain the required sales levels in the last few years

“The location is not a natural destination for retailing and does not have the normal advantages of being on a prominent active road frontage. This means we have had to undertake extensive advertising and promotion in an effort to retain footfall.

“The building has also proved challenging, not being purpose built for retailing, and it has been difficult at times to draw customers to all departments within the store.

“We are proud to have created a successful and popular shop in what had been a largely derelict building, but the last few years have proved difficult with increased competition locally and an apparent flow of shoppers towards Dorchester, where retail investment has been much more significant.

“We have been seeking alternative sites in the Weymouth area, thereby protecting our workforce and preserving the brand value we have developed, but this has not been achievable.

“We have now come to the end of our lease and, although our landlords have offered us reduced terms to extend for a further 12 months, we have reluctantly decided that our business cannot survive here.”

They added: “We would like to thank our staff, suppliers, tenants and customers for their tremendous support over the past ten years.

“We believe we have provided great value across a wide range of products and some exceptional bargains for canny shoppers. This will continue over the coming weeks as we run down our stock levels, so customers should find plenty of great deals. Stock will no longer be replenished, of course, so it will truly be a case of ‘when it's gone, it's gone.’”

Landlords Abbey Manor submitted a planning application in April to build 37 homes on the site. A decision is still awaited