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The company said it now sells 15 times as many digital cameras as film. In fact sales of 35mm cameras have been declining since 1989, the decline accelerating as the quality of digital rose while the price fell.

Bryan Magrath, marketing director at Dixons, said the decision was a 'sentimental' one for a company which began as a photographic studio

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in Southend in 1937.

'35mm cameras were the first products we ever sold and film processing has been a part of our lives for several decades,' he said. 'Time and technology move on, though, and digital cameras are now the rule, rather than the exception. We have decided that the time is now right to take 35mm cameras out of the frame.'

A quick survey of 100 customers carried out by the company recently found that 93 were unable to differentiate between digital and film prints.

'This tells us that there is no real difference in quality between digital and film,' said Magrath. 'The digital camera...delivers huge benefits due to its memory, speed, image quality and transferability of images.'

Dixons will hang on to a few cameras for a couple of months for 'sentimental shoppers keen to buy a piece of history'. It will also continue to sell a limited range of specialist 35mm cameras at its tax-free airport shops.