BOURNEMOUTH town centre’s last remaining supermarket is to close in the new year. 

Tesco Express, in Bourne Avenue by The Square, is to shut shop from January 2023 for around 12 weeks. 

The reason for the three-month closure is to allow for the store to have a full refit. 

A spokesperson for Tesco said: “Our Bournemouth Express store in Bourne Avenue is to undergo a major refurbishment in the new year to provide a better shopping experience for our customers.” 

The Daily Echo understands the closure will be from Monday, January 9 but this date was not verified with Tesco. 

The news will leave Bournemouth town centre with one less supermarket for four months. 

Read more: PICTURES: Remembering Bournemouth's Borders store (and how it looked before)

Lidl in Richmond Gardens Shopping Centre recently closed in October due to low footfall in the store, the need for refurbishment which would cost too much and bosses of the supermarket struggled to come to “more agreeable” lease terms with the landlord. 

There is another Tesco Express store in The Triangle which remains open. 

Tesco in Bournemouth Square first opened in early 2011 as a Metro store when it took over from the former occupier Borders. 

The convenience store changed from a Metro to an Express store earlier this year.  

Express stores are the smallest of Tesco’s store branches and some shoppers consider it more expensive than a bigger Metro and Extra store.