Closing down signs appear at Peacocks in Newbury's Kennet Centre

Currently no date set for closure

CLOSING down signs have gone up at Peacocks in the Kennet Shopping centre as the store prepares for closure.

The move comes after reports last week that high street fashion chain Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) – which owns Peacocks and Jaeger and has around 1,100 stores nationwide – had announced its intention to appoint administrators.

About 50 Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Peacocks stores were closed last week, leading to 600 job losses, and up to 100 more could be closed imminently with hundreds more redundancies.

Closing down and sale signs have now appeared in the shop windows of the Peacocks unit.

It is unclear when the store might close, with Kennet Shopping manager Richard Farley unable to offer any details at this moment in time.

As well as the Peacocks unit in the Kennet Shopping centre, there is an EWM store in Northbrook Street and a Jaeger concession in the Camp Hopson store on Northbrook Street.

The group has come under increasing pressure over recent months, with national and local lockdowns hitting sales heavily.

The company has also been hit hard by allegations, which it denies, that the retailer and several rivals failed to pay some Bangladeshi suppliers during lockdown in an attempt to cut costs for clothes they were unlikely to sell.