THE owner of a furniture shop in Darlington has pledged to keep it open, despite a sister store being forced to close because of spiralling rent costs.

Furniture store Eastern Origins is closing its shop in Northallerton High Street, after trading in the town for more than four years.

A sign in placed in the front of the shop reads: "It is with regret that this store will be closing shortly, due to a rent increase.

"This will not affect our Darlington store, which will continue to trade as normal. We look forward to your custom in the future."

The chain, which sells unusual furniture, home accessories and gifts, has a shop in Grange Road, Darlington.

Owner Darren Syddall blamed an increase in rent for the Northallerton store's closure.

He said: "The agents, acting on behalf of the landlord, originally asked for a 28 per cent increase in rent from us. We managed to negotiate this down to about 12 per cent. Having done the sums, it is still far too high for the trade we get in the town."

My Syddall added: "The Darlington store will definitely carry on trading, and will grow."

Mr Syddall said he planned to open a coffee bar in the shop in the next few months.