Cheltenham is set to lose TWO prominent sport and leisure stores from its retail offer this autumn with the closure of the town's Millets and Blacks stores.

A company source has confirmed to Punchline-Gloucester.com that seven jobs are set to be lost at Millets, which trades at 100, High Street, while it has also been confirmed that an equal number is set to go with the shuttering of Blacks, at 13-17 on the town's Promenade.

Blacks has traded for more than a decade at the address, while Millets' presence in the town is understood to go back over several decades. Both stores will close in September.

Bury-based Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd is the largest British outdoor fashion and equipment retailer and it owns Millets and Ultimate Outdoors, while its parent company is JD Sports Fashion PLC.

JD Sports has been approached for comment, but enquiries with the stores show both have now begun a 30% off promotion across all products, in line with JD Sports' closing down process.

Additionally, amid an online report that an employee has indicated both stores will relocate, the news raises speculation that JD Sports will imminently announce a new unified address for the brands - at a site that may signal a retreat from Cheltenham town centre.

In reaction, one local resident said: "Relocation" where? Likely an out of town store which will increase traffic and be hard to get to for people who don't drive," while another said wrote: "[The] top end of high street is so weird now. Myriad of gamblers/vapes/coffee/phone/barbers with a stonkingly overpriced John Lewis in the middle."

And one sarcastic shopper added: "Hopefully a barber or a coffee shop! Always struggle for a trim and an Americano in town."