FIVE high street brands are to pull out of a major Hampshire shopping centre, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The Arcadia Group has confirmed it is to close five of its stores at Southampton WestQuay Shopping Centre.

Branches of chain stores Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Burton, Evans and Miss Selfridge will all pull down their shutters for the last time on June 13.

The company's Topman and Topshop stores are unaffected.

Business leaders have described the closures as a shock but said they hoped the vacancies will be filled quickly.

The closures comes as the leases on the stores run out.

The Arcadia Group, which is chaired by Sir Philip Green, said it continually evaluated the business when leases came up for renewal and would try to redeploy staff where possible to other stores.

A spokesman said: “We are constantly reviewing our store portfolio across the group, and leases continually expire or come up for renewal.

“We are always looking at how to shape our store portfolio, investing in flagship stores, and increasing our brands' presence on-line.

“Our click and collect service across the brands is also proving a successful way of helping our customers collect their purchases at a location most convenient to them.

“When leases expire that we do not renew, we endeavour to re-deploy staff affected to another store within the Arcadia Group as much as we can.”

A spokesman for WestQuay shopping centre said: “The current lease expires on June 23. We are involved in various discussions regarding the future of the unit, and hope to make an announcement in due course.

“As a local employer, we encourage our retailers to advertise all their vacancies on the WestQuay website and would encourage people to check it out regularly."

Hampshire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stewart Dunn, pictured below, said: “It's obviously something of a shock to hear the news and it comes at a time when there is a recovery on the way.

“We're looking forward to WestQuay Watermark and Southampton becoming an even more vibrant shopping destination and I am confident that while we are losing these household name store there will be others quickly to replace them.

“It perhaps reflects the changes in the high street and retail shopping in general versus online sales.”