Ref. 11873BEALE'S of Bath, the St John's Street store that has been supplying women's fashion and foundation comfort for the last 60 years, is due to close at the end of the month.

The shop's Grade II* listed premises have been on the market for two years. They have now been sold to a holding company which is remaining tight-lipped about the future of the building.

The escalating costs of maintaining the historic building, the earliest parts of which date back to Elizabethan times, have driven the family of founder Victor Beale to call it a day and close the shop.

Manageress Kay Billett, one of Mr Beale's granddaughters, said: "It was a very difficult decision to make. It has been our life and I just don't know what I'm going to do with myself without the shop to run."

Managing director Bob Roberts-Phare said: "The building is deteriorating to such an extent the cost of maintenance would be prohibitive. We felt that the best option would be to sell it to someone who could afford to restore it to its former glory.

"It really is the end of a three-generation era. The Devizes shop was the last of the chain that we used to run."

Time is truly catching up with the fabric of the building. A sign at the front warns pedestrians of falling masonry, and a large gap can be seen in the rendering on the first floor level, revealing the medieval lath-and-plaster wall, which would have to be restored to historic standard by the owners.

The listed status means that any conversion, inside or out, will need special planning permission. The earliest part of the shop is contemporary with the 16th century buildings in St John's Alley across the street.

Victor Beale set up his first shop in Bath in 1918 with the compensation money he received after being invalided out of the Army. He was gassed at the Western Front while serving with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

The after-effects of the poisoning stayed with him for the rest of his life and he was forced to live on a diet of raw eggs and milk.

But the compensation did mean that he and his wife could start up their own business.

While Mr Beale went foraging for material in post-First World War Bath, Mrs Beale made it up into dresses which were sold in the shop.

By 1943 the couple had two shops, but they sold them in order to buy the shop in Devizes.

In the next few years, the business expanded, with shops opening at Salisbury, Trowbridge, Wells and Malmesbury.

The business was handed down to Bob and Betty Roberts-Phare who bought their son out of the RAF, where he was an accountant, so he could help them run the shops.

Mr Roberts-Phare said: "The shop will close at the end of the month and then I will be in a 'give us a job' situation. I would welcome any offers."

He has dismissed any suggestion of opening up elsewhere in the town in perhaps smaller premises.

He said: "The rents are just prohibitive. They are asking £40,000 a year and on top of that you have to find money for stock, electricity and everything else."

Mrs Billett said: "It is the only life I have ever known. We moved to Devizes when I was five and I always helped out in the shop. I shall miss it desperately.

"I don't know what I shall do with myself, but I am not one for being idle so I will find something."

Beale's is due to close on January 31, although it may shut its doors to the public for the last time a week earlier.