SO BEALES in the Brooks has announced it will close on August 1.

It is not a shock because the store has been limping along for years, a far cry from the acclaim when Beales was announced as the anchor store for the new centre back in the early 1990s.

Should we be worried that its closure is a portent of dark times? The answer will be clearer in about six months. Will the new store, or perhaps two if the two-storey unit is divided, be open and thriving, or will it be empty?

If the former, then well and good, Winchester bounces back. But even if the latter then there is no need to panic.

There are some people who foresee the end of all traditional shopping as the internet takes over, the High Street with tumbleweed blowing through the wasteland. Nonsense, of course, especially in Winchester where most empty units are snapped up quickly.

That shopping is going through a painful revolution is obvious, but people still want that hands-on social experience, just as 20,000 people a week enjoy reading this newspaper on newsprint.

What really needs to change is the expectations of landlords and their shareholders in seeking to maximise the rents they charge and the profits they accrue. The High Street and the Brooks can still thrive but only if the people who provide the buildings are realistic about what returns they can make.