A SWEET shop has been saved from closure after a sign put out by the owner pleading for customers worked.

Simon Brown put the blackboard sign outside his traditional sweet shop Bah Humbug, in Moulsham Street, Chelmsford, which said “Save Your Sweet Shop” six weeks ago.

This was a last-ditch effort by the 36-year-old, from Chelmsford, after seeing finances sink to the point where if a profit of £1,800 was not made in six weeks, he would be forced to shut permanently.

However, the sign appears to have done the trick as shoppers poured through the door, helping push the store’s profits to just over the mark.

Mr Brown has now put out a new sign thanking those who helped save the business he set up in November 2009.

He said: “Since I put out the first sign I have had more and more people coming in to buy sweets.

“Some of them have been old or regular customers, but a lot have been new ones who just happened to see the board before coming in.

“I just want to say a massive thank you to the old and new customers who have saved my shop.”

He is now hoping to keep the shoppers who have bought sweets from him in the last few weeks to keep returning in order to make sure the business does not suffer the same problems again.

The blackboard sign could also be coming out more often as well.

Mr Brown said: “I had a sneaky feeling the board could work.

“I spoke to a lot of people who when I mentioned the idea told me not to do it, but this made me more determined as I think people just needed a bit of a shake to make them realise the scale of the situation.

“I think now I’ll use the board more often, as some kind of medieval style Twitter.”