A Beaconsfield trader has started a petition against a funeral home that is set to move into the new town, fearing it will discourage shoppers.

A branch of the Midcounties Co-operative funeralcare is moving into 41 Station Road after taking over the lease on the property from popular gift store Temptation Gifts.

Jack Lubbat, whose family has owned clothing store Marinella in Station Road for 30 years, fears the funeral home will drive away customers at a time when the High Street is starting to pick up again and would prefer to see an independent store move in.

He said: “This sort of business is needed but personally I believe it shouldn’t be on the main high street. It is not the kind of thing you want to see on the high street and it won’t attract new people to come and shop here, unless someone has unfortunately passed away.

“If you look out our shop window, you can see the premises. We will be able to see the funeral home and it is not very nice to see.”

Mr Lubbat has now started a petition to the property freeholders against the move.

He said: “From speaking to people, I know there will definitely be a lot of signatures. Not a lot of people know about it and when the public find out, they won’t like it.”

He also believes the addition of hearses will create ‘negative sentiment amongst shoppers and shopkeepers.’

Temptation Gifts managing director, Mike Adams, said his business has been in Beaconsfield since 1988 and decided to open a second outlet seven doors away in 2013.

He said: “Unfortunately, after two years of trading from two stores, we reluctantly reached the conclusion that our experiment was not financially viable, so we then made the decision to revert to one store in the town, and to assign the lease on the second shop on the open market.

“The agents who were handling the assignment on our behalf had a number of interested parties, but it was the Co-Operative funeral services who pursued their interest most keenly, and who made an acceptable offer to take over the lease.”

Mr Adams said that as they will still be trading on the same parade of shops, it would not have been in their interest to assign the lease to a business they thought would be ‘detrimental to the town.’

He said: “On the contrary, we believe that having easy access to a branch of such a nationally respected funeral chain will be beneficial to the residents of Beaconsfield, and a welcome addition to the mix of businesses on the High Street.”

Simon Fisher, group general manager for the Midcounties Co-operative Funeralcare, confirmed they were opening a new funeral home in Station Road in 2016.

He said: “We'll be recruiting locally over the coming months and are looking forward to serving the local community and working with charities and community groups in Beaconsfield."

View the petition at http://chn.ge/1KYjCIq.