The closure of any retail business in the centre of Bradford is a blow to the city. There are already too many vacant premises in the shopping streets, creating an impression of the place which is depressing if rather misleading - as a positive-minded T&A letter-writer demonstrated the other day when he listed the surprisingly high number of big names which continue to trade here.

It is particularly sad when the failed business is a long-established local one like Bryars, the soft-furnishings firm founded in the city in 1929 and based at the Hustlergate/Bank Street corner of the Wool Exchange since 1966.

The manager blames the closure partly on high overheads but also on a shortage of new customers - prompting the chairman of the Bradford Retail Action Group, Jeff Frankel, to point out quite correctly that if Bradford people don't want to lose such businesses, they should support them instead of shopping elsewhere.

It is to be hoped that the optimism of the Wool Exchange management about the prospects of finding a suitable new tenant for the site proves to be justified.

The section of the building in the next block previously occupied by Dillons bookshop remains empty, as do the premises in the basement of the Wool Exchange which housed the Pierre Victoire restaurant.

Although both of these closed as a result of national decisions rather than local circumstances, the slowness in filling the premises unfortunately does tend to suggest to visitors to Bradford that here is a city which has trouble finding ten-ants even for such prime sites.