Mystery surrounds the sudden closure of a Huddersfield food store.

Neighbouring shop owners and shoppers have been left confused by the unannounced closure of The Good Food Business opposite Huddersfield bus station.

Steel shutters went up at the Upperhead Row shop last weekend and no-one has been back to the premises.

It is understood stock and fittings were taken away prior to the shutdown.

But there are no notices for customers to tell them what is happening with the shop, nor for staff who worked there.

Customers said that if now shut for good it would be a ‘sad’ end to the shop, which has been serving the public since it was originally set up by Martin Mansfield and Barry Heap in 1987. They ran the business for many years but sold it in 2008.

One neighbouring shopkeeper, who did not want to be named, said: “It was open on Saturday as normal then I saw the couple who owned it putting everything in the shop into a van.

“The shop hadn’t been as busy as it used to be but a lot of elderly people relied upon it to do their shopping.

“They would get the bus into town and go there because they were unable to go further into town.

“If it has closed it would be sad and a shame as it used to be a great shop and another empty shop would not be good for the town.”

Another shopkeeper, said: “We have spoken to two staff who say they have lost their jobs there”.

A company record for the business listed on the Companies House website states it was registered as Good Food Supermarket Ltd.

It did not state that it had been dissolved but showed that no accounts or the latest returns had been received.

Another check on company research site Duedil said that the Good Food business was owned by Sukhjeet Singh Sodhi, who had it incorporated as a private limited business last year.

Mr Mansfield and Mr Heap were regarded as retail pioneers in the town, due to their decision to open the upstairs cafe in 1989 as the first non-smoking eating place in Huddersfield following the Government’s partial ban on smoking in public places.

The team, who had at one point dozens of staff working for them, were also well-regarded for the quality of their produce and choice of unusual items for sale, such as daffodils in mid-winter and a 200lb beagle shark.