People have come to a beloved sandwich shop to take home their last baguette - and part of the shop.

The Baguette Bar on Prospect Place closed permanently on Friday with emotional customers bidding farewell to staff and thanking them for 31 years of great food.

The Bar recently announced it was being forced to close due to rising costs and fewer customers making the business unaffordable.

One customer, Tom Hudson, said: “When I heard it was closing I was more shocked than anything; me and so many other people have leaned on this place for so long - to find out it is closing you cannot quite believe it.

“It’s eminently reliable, always good people, always good food; an institution is the best word for it.”

Another customer, Steve Birch, arrived to take home some of the shop’s decorations for his kitchen, saying: “I don’t feel good about this.

“I am absolutely gutted - these signs aren’t originals but they are to me because I have been looking at them for 20 years.

“Me putting them in my house is me trying to keep a part of this place alive.” 

He added: “It is a matter of use it or lose it, and I wonder what is going to be left when we lose all of these fantastic places?”

The shop has sold many of its familiar fittings to those wanting to immortalise a part of the cherished sandwich shop in their own homes.

This includes the chef figure in the window, specials boards and the menu, although the wooden counter is still up for sale for £450.

Meanwhile, customers have sent in flowers, cards and gifts.

Lucy Hayes, staff member, said: “It’s a community, everyone is just so used to us being here. Even I used to come in here when I was little.

“What I am going to miss is the customers. People’s lives, people tell you stuff."

Owner, Brenda Ronayne, said: “Thank you everyone who has helped us over the last 31 years.”

Another customer remarked: “If this turns into offices or flats then there is something very wrong with this world.”