Fashion chain C&A are to close all their stores countrywide - including the one at Lakeside.

A statement issued on Thursday confirmed that the fashion chain's remaining stores in Dublin and the UK are to follow the same fate as the Southend and Basildon stores which are among those which have already been closed.

Staff at the firm's stores in Colchester, Chelmsford, plus Lakeside Shopping Centre at Thurrock, were told they would lose their jobs over the next six to nine months.

Up to 30 will lose their jobs at the 13-year-old store in Colchester, 33 in Chelmsford, plus 66 at Lakeside. A total of 4,800 will be lost nationwide.

The company blames the changing face of the UK High Street and aggressive competition.

Southend's C&A store in the High Street closed its doors for the last time in February as the company anounced a period of modernisation.

It had been trading in Southend since November 1972 and employed around 50 staff.

Staff at the Basildon store in the town's Eastgate Centre found out in January 1999 that they were to lose their jobs.

Around 50 full and part-time staff worked there. The store opened in the 1980s and eventually closed its doors in May 1999. No date has yet been set for the closure of the Lakeside store but it is predicted it will be in the next few months.

In a letter, being handed to customers, Neil McCausland, managing director of C&A UK said: "Our main concern is now for our people.

"In the coming months we will be making every effort to support them in finding employment elsewhere. Training and job-finding services will be provided and when new tenants take over our stores we will encourage them to recruit our staff."

Over the past five years the company has seen losses in Britain totalling £250 million.

The company says it will be offering redundancy packages "well in excess of the statutory minimum".

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