Interpart, Ramblers and The Barber Shop Group have all recently shut along the road, and now the honorary secretary of The Aylesbury Society, Roger King, has called upon the street's biggest retailer to commit to the rebuilding of their store, which he argues will bring the area back to life.

The supermarket already has outline planning permission to build a new store in Buckingham Street/ Cambridge Street, three times bigger than its current offering.

Also included in the scheme is the provision of six small retail units, together with better carparking and 40 new homes.

In order to get permission, Sainsburys drew up a report on the benefits of their scheme, claiming it would 'act as a catalyst for further investment in the town centre' and 'tidy up a run-down part of the town centre that has been under performing for many years.'

But the delayed Wateside Shopping development along Exchange Street had also caught their eye as a possible site. And although Waitrose is the overwhelming favourite to occupy that spot, Sainsburys' maintain they are still at the negotiating table for it.

In a statement they said: "Sainsbury's remains committed to improving its offer in Aylesbury town centre.

A decision on whether Sainsbury's would redevelop the existing Buckingham Street site or occupy part of the Waterside scheme has not yet been made as there are outstanding issues to resolve."

But Mr King said: "We would like Sainsbury's to get on with it in Buckingham Street, it would absolutely rejuvenate that side of town. We would like to see it done before Waterside is finished because you need an anchor in that area, otherwise everything will move down towards Waterside."

However, he admitted there were some concerns about the location of the proposed new entrance to Sainsbury's, as it would not be directly located on Buckingham Street- a passageway with the small retail units along one side would instead lead up to it from where the current supermarket is.

"It really depends on who occupies those units," said Mr King.

Karen Waldron, owner of The Barber Shop Group, said despite her business flourishing in other towns and villages in the area, high rents and declining footfall made her decide to close her outlet in Buckingham Street and relocate her staff to other nearby branches.

"With being such a successful business I didn't need to keep a shop that's high rent and not as busy as my other ones," she said. "I just think Buckingham Street has really quitened down. It was a really busy area," she added.