Mystery surrounds the reason why a North-East factory outlet shopping mall suddenly closed its doors yesterday to customers and turned staff away from work.

Staff arriving at Jackson's Landing in Hartlepool were told they no longer had jobs and notices were being put up on doors saying the store was closed until further notice.

Vans and trucks had also arrived at the store, on the town's Marina, and some staff were seen to be clearing out stock into the vehicles. Around 18 months ago, The Designer Room had gone into receivership after falling profits threatened its closure.

With about 60 staff, the closure of the mall would have been a major blow to employment and investment in the town centre.

But, Italian businessman Marino Roberto, who owns Prohibition London, stepped in and vowed to return the shopping mall to its former glory, starting by re-naming it Jackson's Landing.

However, yesterday neither him or anybody from his company was able to shed light on why the store had closed and customers continued to turn up throughout the morning unaware they were unable to get in.

One angry woman, who did not wish to be named, had travelled to the store after receiving a phone call from her sister to say she had turned up at work that morning and was told she was being made redundant.

The woman said: "My sister works here and she came to work as usual and was turned away and told she had lost her job. "There was no mention of it on Thursday and she has been in tears all morning as she is now redundant.

"I am angry for her and have come to try and find out what is going on."

When confronted by The Northern Echo yesterday, manager of the store Carol Finney refused to comment and closed the door.

However, rumours persisted throughout the town that once again the store had gone into receivership, although this has not been confirmed. One man who had travelled from Durham with his wife and two young grandchildren, said: "I come here regularly and it is sad, but I have said for a long time there is more staff than punters."

Other stores in the country owned by Prohibition are still open and it is only the Hartlepool one that has been affected.