A convenience store in the centre of Hitchin purchased from Morrisons and rebranded My Local has closed this week with jobs to be lost in the town – as shoppers cleared the shelves of stock as they took the opportunity to snap up last minute bargains.

The My Local store on Bancroft closed on Sunday – less than a year after a team led by Channel Four’s Secret Millionaire, entrepreneur Mike Greene bought more than 100 small ‘express’ style Morrisons from the retail giant for £25 million.

Eye-witnesses in the store spoke of shelves being emptied of their entire stock as prices were slashed to 50 per cent off, then 70 per cent.

One shopper told the Comet: “I walked in there on Saturday night and saw rows and rows of empty and emptying shelves. My first thought was that Brexit had caused it until I talked to a woman behind the till who told me they were closing.

“The were huge bargains to be had and I, and a lot of other people got a pleasant surprise with hugely discounted food and alcohol.

“It was like a well-mannered Herts version of the last days of Saigon.”

A spokesman for London PR firm Bell Pottinger representing My Local declined to confirm the number of jobs lost.