Customers express their sadness on final day of Tesco Metro

Lowestoft Tesco will shut September 28. Picture: Greta Levy (Image: Archant)

The Tesco Metro on London Road North in Lowestoft closes at the end of today, September 28.

The smiling staff of the town centre store greeted their shoppers with slices of cake as they said their goodbyes to regular customers of the supermarket.

Brian Freeman, 78, from Lowestoft, said he regularly shopped at the town centre store and enjoyed the consistent conversations with other customers and the staff.

Mr Freeman said: "I come down here five or six days a week just for a walk outside. The staff always have a yarn - I am going to miss this.

"Since the missus died I have always been down here for a yarn. It is a pity it is shutting down because we are going to miss it."

Another customer, Mark Bowen, said: "I get down there [Tesco] by 7.15am and buy five or six bags of shopping.

"I feel for the staff because, while it is an inconvenience for us, but for them it is their jobs," the 52-year-old said.

Suzanne Gibbons, from Lowestoft, said she was concerned about the closure of the store because she did not have access to a car.

"I will have to get one of the buses to shop at the Morrisons or bigger stores. I feel sorry for the staff, this store has been open for years," she said.

Another customer, Kieran Kempson, said: "We really need a shop like a Sainsbury's local or something along those lines in the town centre that's open until 10pm - seven days a week."

On the closure, a spokesperson from Tesco said: "We would like to thank all our customers who have shopped in our store and we will continue to do our best to serve them through our other local stores, including our Superstore on Leisure Way."

Waveney MP Peter Aldous described the closure as a "disappointment" for Lowestoft but said the council and Lowestoft Vision aim to give the high street "a new identity".