A string of shops in Brighton and Hove's fashionable shopping quarter are closing down.

Shopkeepers in North Laine are blame soaring costs and poor sales. They say rents and business rates have increased by thousands of pounds during the last year while high street competition has led to falling sales.

Electric Rock boutique in Gardner Street, Rokit clothing store in Kensington Gardens, Music Meltdown in Sydney Street, retro fashion store Revival in Trafalgar Street and Garden boutique in Gloucester Street are all shutting down. Fruity clothing store in Gardner Street is looking for a buyer.

Savita Orchard, of Electric Rock, said: "I realised I had to close about a week ago.

"We've been here two years. It was quite demoralising at the end, day after day with no one buying anything.

"I'm going to try the eBay thing on the internet and cut out the overheads. A lot of people are thinking of doing it."

Miss Orchard believes spiralling costs and increasing competition are to blame. She pays £22,500 a year in rent and £6,000 in business rates.

Rokit is also closing. It has been in North Laine since 1988 and is an institution among the student population.

Rokit owner Anthony Shackleton lives in Canada. The Brighton store was the second in a chain that began in Camden. He has decided to sell up and set up two more stores in London after trying to find a larger shop in Brighton.

A shop worker, who preferred not to be named, said: "The owner wanted a bigger shop in Brighton because a shop this size isn't viable. You can't fit the range of stock in you need."

Tim Price and Soly Daneshmand, who run JuJu on Kensington Street, said that while Brighton and Hove City Council speaks positively about the uniqueness of the area, it is squeezing businesses out by raising the rates.

Ms Daneshmand said: "We could be seeing the demise of independent traders in the North Laine. We are absolutely petrified of our rent review."

Richard Tatum, owner of Fruity, is selling the store.

He said: "Our rent has gone up from £13,900 a year ago to £20,000 and rates from £5,000 to £7,000 at the same time.

"But I think the high street's got a lot to do with it. They're covering what only independents could cover before.

"H&M are doing a vintage collection now. We used to sell fluorescent hair dyes and Boots are doing them now."

Paul Clark, owner of Music Meltdown, is following a growing trend of traders moving to online sales.

Urban records moved from North Laine to set up an online business in New England House a few months ago and Mr Clark is planning to join them.

He said: "I started doing the net two years ago and thought it would just be an extra thing to support the shop but it's taken over. Today I've taken £200 online and £50 in the shop."