The national department store group which is to move into the High Street site of T.P. Hughes and Son in Tenby has been named as M & Co.

The company, founded in Scotland, has almost 300 stores in the UK but only two others in Wales.

The shops' ranges includes women's, men's and children's clothing and accessories, together with homeware products.

The Western Telegraph exclusively reported on Monday that a major store was poised to take over the prominent main site of the long-established retail business, which has been trading in Tenby for 114 years.

It has subsequently been announced that the directors of T.P. Hughes have accepted an offer from M & Co to lease their block of property fronting on High Street, Upper Frog Street and St Nicholas Lane, including the extensions into Bank Lane.

Managing director Chris Hughes, who is the fourth generation of his family to run the business, assured that T.P. Hughes will continue to "maintain a strong presence" in the town.

This will be achieved by furniture, carpets, bedding and home furnishings being sold from the current carpet shop location in Upper Frog Street, serviced by T.P. Hughes' substantial warehouse on Tenby's Salterns Industrial Estate.

Ahead of the offer being accepted, Mr Hughes said that the then in-named major retailer was "one we would be happy to see in Tenby and who would be good for the town".

The store closed last Friday in preparation for the Great £480,000 Stock Sell-Out, which gets underway for invited customers at 10am on Wednesday (April 5). The sale will be open to the general public from Friday.

Mr Hughes had previously stated that staff issues resulting from the changes were being addressed.

"We are doing our best to accommodate everyone," he said. "There are some members of staff who will be happy to go, and others who may find employment with the new retailer."