Ramraiders have forced a national firm out of Bradford, creating another empty shop in the city centre.

The owners of Supercigs decided to pull out after the John Street premises were raided for the third time in the past four months.

About £6,000 of cigarettes and confectionery has been taken and repairing the smashed-up shop has cost more than £15,000.

Now it has announced that it will close on Saturday, with the loss of three jobs.

Area manager Carol Popplewell said: "Initially we didn't want it to close, but we just feel the ramraiders have won - they have got the better of us."

Staff were in tears when they heard the news and shop manager Sophie Tempest said everyone was "absolutely gutted."

She added: "It's yet another shop in Bradford disappearing. This end of the city centre is like a ghost town."

Talks were held with Bradford Council and the Highways Agency about placing bollards on the pavement in front of the shop, but the latest raid was the last straw.

Jeff Frankel, chairman of the Bradford Retail Action Group, said: "It's an awful shame that a company has to leave the city because of unruly elements in society.

"Any business that turns its back on Bradford is bad for everyone - for consumers and the shopkeepers."

Councillor Simon Cooke, the Council's executive member for regeneration, said the authority had done what it could to address crime in the city centre.

"Bluntly, it is time some of the other authorities started to take some action," he said.

Malcolm Veigas, head of markets for the Council, said in a statement: "We are aware of the problems that this business has had with ramraiders and have made every effort to solve it.

"We have offered them alternative premises immediately across the road".

The closure comes just a week after another shop shut its doors for the last time.

A sign in the window of Bradford Model Centre, in Ivegate - formerly Carter's toyshop - states it can no longer support city centre premises.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: "Regarding the offence on January 5, three men and a youth have been arrested and are on police bail pending further inquiries.

"Bradford police have recently appointed a district commercial crime reduction officer to look at issues relating to business crime.

"The police also has a dedicated city centre team which focuses daily on key issues including retail crime. In its first three months officers made 318 arrests."