A 152-year-old family-run hardware shop is to close as town centre footfall has become "pretty much non-existent".

Goldings in Bedford High Street opened in 1867 but its owners said competition from the internet and multi-national firms made it impossible to continue.

Announcing the news on Facebook, they said they were "devastated and sad."

Kate Temple, who has run the store with her husband for four years, said: "You can walk down the street on a Saturday afternoon without bumping into anyone."

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Andy Verity
BBC Economics correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

"Surely you’ll be all right? There’s plenty of demand for your skills isn’t there?” I asked a somewhat glum-looking drinker.

“I don’t know. It’s not an easy market right now. People aren’t falling over themselves to hire more traders.”

There were plenty of smiles and laughs in Balls Brothers, just off London Wall and next to the huge, banana-shaped building that is Deutsche Bank’s London headquarters.

But a few of those drinking in the pub work for the businesses Deutsche Bank is now shutting down in the UK, where about 800 jobs are at risk, I was told.

What's more, this is only the first tranche in a clear-out of 20% of Deutsche’s staff - or 18,000 people - who will get redundancy cheques in the next three years.

The main US share indexes have opened lower amid waning expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this month and a weak performance from Apple shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.32% at the open, the S&P 500 slipped 0.36%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6%.

Investors had been betting the Fed would cut rates amid signs of a slowing US economy, but the strong July jobs report published last week may have put paid to that.

Meanwhile tech giant Apple, one of the biggest companies by value on the US stock market, saw its shares slip almost 3% after an analyst downgrade

Image source, Reuters

Cafe giant Starbucks has apologised after six police officers were asked to leave a branch in Tempe, Arizona because a customer said they felt "unsafe".

Starbucks apologised to the Tempe police department “for any misunderstanding or inappropriate behaviour that may have taken place” and said it had "deep respect" for the police.

Reports of the 4 July incident went viral over the weekend, with some social media users calling for a boycott of the cafe chain.

However, others said the complaint - and the response of staff - were justified given recent incidents of police brutality in the US.

The German bank's restructuring has implications beyond jobs and could hit confidence in the City.

Sharmaden Reid is the founder and CEO of Beautystack, a tech start up in London that has raised more than £4m in investment.

A working mother frustrated at childcare arrangements in most small businesses, she decided to offer childcare to her employees on her own terms, including a childminder during school holidays.

Kevin Peachey
Personal finance reporter

Image source, PA Media

Properties which are hit by flooding could be rebuilt with extra protection against repeat damage, under plans unveiled today.

Nearly 250,000 homes are assigned to the Flood Re scheme, which is designed to ensure lower premiums as the risk is effectively taken on by the insurance industry as a whole.

The scheme has now proposed that any of these homes damaged by flooding should not only be rebuilt to their previous standard, but that the scheme should also cover the payment of claims to include an additional amount for "resilient or resistant repair".

The Flood Re scheme was launched in April 2016, and has reduced premiums for some householders in flood-risk areas, but also has its critics.

Before today's proposed £183m BA fine for data breaches, what have been the biggest fines?

Facebook and Equifax were both fined £500,000 last year when that was the maximum allowed.

Here's a chart prepared by BBC data journalist Daniele Palumbo which shows the other companies fined more than £250,000 since 2012.

Image source, Getty Images

On Saturday,Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan dismissed central bank governor Murat Cetinkaya, causing the lira to fall 1.6% on Monday.

While no official reason has been given for the sacking, there have been reports of disagreements over interest rates.

Mr Erdogan had long called for interest rates to be lowered, describing them as the "mother and father of all evil", but Mr Cetinkaya had refused.

Now investors are concerned about the central bank's independence and how political interference will affect monetary policy.

"His removal speaks to Erdogan's insistence on imposing his diktats on monetary policy, and more broadly, it suggests tight presidential control of economic policies," said Phoenix Kalen, EM strategy director at Societe Generale.

Image source, Getty Images

Redundancy can be both a curse and a blessing suggests one 57-year-old Business Live reader, who's been made redundant four times.

"It makes you question your worth and you compare yourself to the others that kept their job and were in your opinion less committed than you," writes TezandDeb.

"But over the years that redundancy money paid off my mortgage early and now I don't have to work so hard while the others are still grafting."

Keep your comments coming to bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk

Image source, Getty Images

Some positive news for Debenhams' hopes of survival: M&G Real Estate has agreed to withdraw its court action related to the store chain's CVA proposals.

“I am pleased that M&G has recognised the necessity for the CVAs and that as a result of the discussions we have had, it has withdrawn its challenge," said Debenhams' chaiman Terry Duddy.

The proposals received support from the majority of the company’s creditors, but challenges remain from Sports Direct and Combined Property Control.

Mr Duddy said: "I call on Sports Direct and CPC to do the same [as M&G]. If they do not, we will seek to have it thrown out. In the meantime, we continue to make good progress with the company’s restructuring plans.”

Meanwhile Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, reckons this morning's news is a sign of the growing importance of CIOs. He said:

Patrick Arben, a partner at law firm Gowling WLG, said the proposed £183m BA fine is the Information Comissioners' Office warning to other corporates. he said::

Image source, Getty Images

At Deutsche Bank's headquarters in London today, some staff stayed away from work after being told their passes would stop working at 11am.

That doesn't sound a great way to make people redundant, but is there ever a good way?

We'd love to hear your stories. Have you been made redundant? How was it handled?

Or have you been forced to make people redundant? How did THAT go!

Email us at bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk

Let's have a mid-day look at the markets.

The FTSE100 is relatively flat, down 0.14% at 7542.60 after being up earlier in the day.

Leading the risers is tobacco giant Imperial Brands after it shook up its dividend policy, as we reported below. It's now up 2.18% on the day.

The only other share up more than 2% is Fresnillo, which has climbed 2.02%.

Three shares have fallen 2% or more in value this morning: Ocado, down 2,12%, JD Sports, 2.09%, and Centrica, which has fallen 2%.

Image source, Getty Images

Tobacco giant Imperial Brands has announced a shake-up to its dividend policy and a £200 million share buyback.

The firm, maker of Gauloises cigarettes, will abandon its annual 10% increase from next year and instead adopt a progressive policy that takes into account the underlying performance of the business.

Imperial's board said the change "recognises the company's continued strong cash generation and the importance of growing dividends for shareholders, while providing greater flexibility in capital allocation".

Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "All this makes sense, a double-digit dividend yield is more than any investor needs or can reasonably expect in the current climate, and throwing more money at shareholders has failed to make the shares more attractive.

Imperial Brands' shares are leading the FTSE 100 risers today: they're up 2.23%.

Image source, Newcastle Building Society

For a positive change, here's a good news story.

Fed-up bank customers in Hawes, North Yorkshire are facing the withdrawal of the last bank in town.

But a regional building society is stepping into the breach. Newcastle Building Society is in discussions to launch a community branch for local people based in the Upper Wensleydale Community Office.

"As a building society we believe in the role of the high street at the heart of our communities," said chief executive Andrew Haigh.

Councillor John Blackie has battled to ensure Hawes has maintained local services against the odds.

He said: "The news of the opening of the community branch will offset the feeling of being left in isolation from financial services that was set off by the impending loss of the last bank in town.”

Image source, PA Media

A free-climber has scaled The Shard, one of the tallest buildings in Europe.

The man was spoken to by police after the stunt but not arrested when he was seen on the side of the London skyscraper at about 05:15 BST.

Onlookers posted footage of the man, who is believed to have made the ascent without ropes or suction cups.