THE local branch of the last remaining major music retailer in Romford appears to have been spared closure.

HMV recently closed 10 stores across the country and 30 more are due to close after sales at the HMV group, which also includes Waterstones, fell by 10 per cent over the Christmas period.

The Ilford branch of the store was closed last week, but the Romford store looks set to remain open for the immediate future.

A spokesman for HMV said: “There are no plans to close the Romford store as far as I’m aware. Stores that are closing are typically in areas where we have two already.

“It’s an ongoing thing, as leases come up for renewal, like in Ilford, some are not being renewed.”

But the spokesman added that he couldn’t give “a categoric” answer on whether it would be open indefinitely.

A spokesman for Waterstones said the chain had already closed 14 of the 20 bookshops it had announced would close, but couldn’t say where the remaining six were located.