THE owner of a York sweet shop which survived blows to its business from the foot and mouth crisis, flooding, and September 11, says it is now having to close because of a rent increase.

Simon Williams, who runs Hamiltons Old Fashioned Sweet Shop, in Pavement, will open for the last time tomorrow because he is unable to afford the rise.

London-based property company St Martin's Property Corporation Ltd has increased his rent from £25,000 a year to £33,900.

Simon started the sweet shop and caf seven years ago in Stonegate Walk with redundancy money he received from the Army. He moved the shop to Pavement, where it has continued to grow into a thriving business.

He said: "We get a lot of people who come every year when they come to York on their holidays. We also have customers from the USA that have been coming back year after year for the past seven years.

"It is very popular with a large number of elderly ladies who come in - we are a very popular coffee shop for them. They are devastated about the closure and have asked if we are opening anywhere else, but the answer is no."

Simon said he had struggled through other crises thrown at him, but had still managed to build up the shop into a successful business.

He believes the problem of small businesses struggling to pay high rents is set to become a city-wide issue.

He said: "I think the property companies are not interested in small businesses, they want multi-national companies.

"Small businesses are important to York, it is what makes York unique and makes the difference in the city."

Simon added: "I would like to thank all my customers very much for their support. We are going to miss them because we have had some lovely customers."

No-one was available to comment from St Martin's Property Corporation Ltd.

Updated: 11:22 Friday, September 20, 2002