A successful charity shop will close its doors tomorrow (Friday) and re-open the following day at new premises nearby. For over a decade the Garden House Hospice has operated the most successful of its six charity shops at The Elmes Arcade in the High Str

A successful charity shop will close its doors tomorrow (Friday) and re-open the following day at new premises nearby.

For over a decade the Garden House Hospice has operated the most successful of its six charity shops at The Elmes Arcade in the High Street, Stevenage.

But the lease on the arcade has been taken up by supermarket giant Tesco which gave the hospice notice to quit by this Friday.

Unable to find a suitable permanent site in the Old Town, the hospice is moving to temporary premises at 30 High Street in what was an old office printing and stationery business.

The hospice had been hoping Tesco might allow it to remain in the arcade until it decided when to turn the premises into a Tesco express store. But the supermarket recently informed the hospice it planned to "refurbish the property immediately" should they secure the lease.

"We have taken a short-term lease on the new premises because we are still looking for somewhere in the Old Town that can accommodate us on a permanent basis," said Garden House Hospice general manager Jenny Lupton.

"We wanted to keep a presence in the Old Town because people there have been so supportive and we want to keep this continuity with the people there.

"The temporary shop will not be as large as the one we had in the arcade and it will mean a reduction in income but hopefully we can find larger premises very quickly because we don't want to leave the Old Town where we have had wonderful support.