With fashion retailer Gap and bank Santander announcing the closure of east London locations, we look back at some of the well-known businesses that have shut up shop in Barking and Dagenham over the last decade.

Roys Pie and Mash

Barking and Dagenham Post: Staff members Eileen Boreham and Maggie Morgan outside Roys Pie and Mash shop in 2014.Staff members Eileen Boreham and Maggie Morgan outside Roys Pie and Mash shop in 2014. (Image: Archant)

The family-run Roys Pie and Mash, in Station Parade, closed in 2014 after 20 years in Dagenham.

Owner Perry Horton, who began working at the shop with his father Roy at the age of 10, said at the time: “The final day was such a sad occasion, I couldn’t even bear to be in the shop.

“I’ve got a lot of great memories from Dagenham and we’ve had a great response from the locals over the years.”

Roy initially launched his business in Upton Park’s Queens Market 50 years earlier, before moving into Dagenham in 1994.

Barclays, Faircross Parade

People in the area were angered by the closure of the Barclays bank branch in Faircross Parade in 2015.

The branch shut its doors for the last time in October that year, almost 80 years after a sub-branch first opened at the site.

A Barclays spokesperson said at the time: “At our Barking, Faircross Parade branch, customer usage has been significantly declining over a number of years and more than two thirds of customers now regularly use our alternative branches.”

Bowlers Angling

Iconic Dagenham fishing shop Bowlers Angling closed in late 2015.

It shut up shop in Cinema Parade after more than 40 years, because its owner was retiring.

WHSmith

Barking and Dagenham Post: The former WHSmith store at Barking station.The former WHSmith store at Barking station. (Image: Alex Shaw)

The WHSmith store at Barking station closed in November 2018 ahead of a planned redevelopment of the station.

The closure came three years after the retail chain closed its shop in Vicarage Field shopping centre in September 2015.

At the time, WHSmith said it couldn’t continue to trade viably at the location and the store would be closed because of a forthcoming lease expiry.

Poundstretcher

Discount retailer Poundstretcher closed its Dagenham branch last year, blaming "significant impacts to profitability" worsened by the pandemic.

It shut up shop in Merrielands Retail Park, with frozen foods supermarket chain Farmfoods announcing it would take over the site.

Accountancy giant KPMG had previously announced that Poundstretcher’s creditors had approved a rescue plan put forward by the business.

Will Wright from KPMG said: “One of the UK’s best-known discount retailers, Poundstretcher, has suffered from significant impacts to profitability on several fronts over a sustained period, which were then further exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19 on footfall.”