A MUSIC store which has been in Newport for nearly 40 years will quit the city centre due to falling trade.

GM Music is moving from its Upper Dock Street, where it has been since 1974, to a unit within Tesco at Newport Retail Park, Spytty.

Company director Jason Beese said the firm, which sells musical instruments, equipment and sheet music, was prompted to move following the recent closure of stores on the high street and the news that retail giant Marks and Spencer was to relocate.

He said the company might have stayed in the city centre if the first Friars Walk scheme had gone ahead.

But after it folded in 2009 he said many businesses and shoppers had deserted the city's main shopping area leaving footfall low.

He said: “It’s like a ghost town. In Tesco the footfall is 35,000 people through the doors a week, and they want to improve that to 70,000. That’s huge, if we can capture a fraction of that it would be great for us.”

The new store will open on March 19 and although the current store is expected to remain open for a few weeks, it will eventually close.