Jobs safe at Peacocks but Bonmarche to shut

The store is one of 338 UK stores which have been saved from closure after a takeover was agreed with Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

Administrators KPMG took control of the retailer in January after it failed to restructure part of its £750 million debt.

The deal with Edinburgh Woollen Mill means 6,000 jobs across the UK are safeguarded. But 224 Peacocks stores have ceased trading with immediate effect, with a loss of 3,100 jobs.

Debbie Crick, store manager at Peacocks in Gainsborough, said the announcement was ‘great news’.

She confirmed the store would be staying open and that nine workers would be kept on at the store.

Sadly, the town’s Bonmarche clothing store, which was also owned by Peacocks Group before it ran into trouble, will close.

Investment company Sun European Partners bought the company from the administrators, but it immediately announced plans to close 160 stores with the loss of 1,400 jobs.

‘Closing down’ signs appeared in Gainsborough’s Market Street shop window a number of weeks ago.

But a spokesman for the chain said it was not clear when the store would close, or how many jobs would be lost.

“We will endeavour to relocate staff to vacancies in neighbouring stores,” she said. The nearest open store is currently in Scunthorpe.

The company blamed loss of trade on a decline in customer spending and rising costs in the current economic climate.