SIXTY-four years of Devizes history came to an end on Monday May 13 when the former Olde Pie Shoppe in the Market Place closed for the last time.

Stephen Pyne, proprietor of Westbury-based Raines & Son which took over the business from the Giles family, blames recent changes to the Market Place carried out by the county, district and town councils.

At the end of April the neighbouring Coffee Kiosk closed its doors

Mr Pyne said: "For a shop to stay open it has to have customers. There is no activity down this end of the Market Place and nowhere for people to pull over and park."

The bakery at the rear of the shop will still make pasties and pies but the company will concentrate on its shop in the Little Brittox, which is to be renamed The Pie Shop Bakery.

All but one of the staff are transferring to the Little Brittox.

Mr Pyne said: "Devizes is a beautiful town and it was just beginning to revive after going through a bad patch. But what the council has done has stopped that revival in its tracks. It is very sad."

Officers from Kennet District Council have asked Mr Pyne for an urgent meeting but he is not optimistic about the shop reopening. He said: "Unless the council can do something about attracting more people to that end of the Market Place I don't see any future for shops there. It's all very well to try and stop people bringing their cars into town but they will just take their custom elsewhere."

Kennet has launched a survey of businesses in the Market Place to see how they have fared since the changes .