More than 80 jobs are to go across Norfolk and Suffolk as a deal was struck to sell a number of Peacocks shops to the Edinburgh Woollen Mill today.

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More than 80 jobs and five shops are to go in Norfolk and North Suffolk after Peacocks was sold to Edinburgh Woollen Mill today.

Shops in Castle Mall Shopping Centre and Riverside Retail Park in Norwich are to close alongside stores in Great Yarmouth, Dereham and Bury St Edmunds, with the loss of 82 jobs.

But almost 80 jobs have been saved as a result of the sale with the new owners pledging to keep shops in Lowestoft, Gorleston, Thetford, Downham Market, Wisbech and King’s Lynn open.

Peacocks collapsed under a debt mountain last month in the biggest retail failure since Woolworths, placing 7,500 jobs in jeopardy.

Edinburgh, which beat off Indian textile and clothing giant S Kumars Nationwide, said it would attempt to save some of the stores and jobs being lost today.

However, chief executive Philip Day added: “As you can imagine, there will be a considerable amount of work to undertake over the next few months to stabilise the situation, turn this business around, get the supply chain moving again and excite the customers with great products.”

Chris Laverty, joint administrator and restructuring partner at KPMG, said: “Today’s deal ensures the continued trading of a well known name on the high street. While it is unfortunate that redundancies have been necessary, we are pleased that we have been able to preserve the majority of the business and jobs. Like many other retailers, Peacocks suffered from a decline in consumer spending due to the tough economic conditions and this, combined with a surplus of stores and unsustainable capital structure led to the business becoming financially unviable.”

Bonmarche, which was part of the Peacock Group, was sold last month in a deal that will lead to 1,400 job losses.

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11 comments

  • should be free parking in GYARMOUTH.the library is poorly stocked as well.this was mentioned in an official recent report.

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    bookworm

    Friday, February 24, 2012

  • yet another shop going,in all honesty I knew that this one would be closed and yarmouth is dying a slow and painful death

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    nightingale

    Thursday, February 23, 2012

  • my guess is they dont want EWM and Peacocks stores in the same place (this would be the case in Dereham) maybe the Peacock (or EWM) brand will be phased out

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    richard77w

    Thursday, February 23, 2012

  • Billy: Sorry but I don't understand what you mean. Perhaps you could elaborate? Are you referring to those from Suffolk when you refer to 'immigrants' in Gt Yarmouth?

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    Premier League Budgie

    Thursday, February 23, 2012

  • Daisy Roots : The shops are an important steady income stream for charities. I hope you, your family and friends never find yourselves in the position of needing help with dealing with a heart condition or maybe cancer.

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    point du jour

    Wednesday, February 22, 2012

  • Totaly agree with daisy.The whole town centre needs a drastic sort out and fast because it's rapidly becomming a ghost town.I live less than 3 miles from the market place but very rarely do i visit.There just is'nt anything there that appeals.if i need to shop i go to norwich. What type of incentives could GYBC offer to Norwich commuters?? Free public transport to and from Norwich maybe?? i dont know if that would be enough.I travel all over east anglia every day and Yarmouth has got a really really bad reputation with just about everyone i speak to.The amount of cheap rented accomodaton has had a massive detrimental efect on the town with immigration not just from abroad but also from other parts of the UK having a huge impact.

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    timmy_two_sheds

    Wednesday, February 22, 2012

  • what i dont get is why both norwich stores are being closed, yet they're keeping shops in the smaller towns open?

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    svjoc1987

    Wednesday, February 22, 2012

  • Time to withdraw business rate concessions from charity shops and to ban them from selling new goods to drive them out of GY and with luck to then drive rents down so that private small businesses might have half a chance of getting started.Yarmouth is in grave danger of not being able to service the needs of those who do not drive ( the out of town retail parks are not easily accessible). Plus there is the growing frustration of realising that the big chains which drove a multitude of smaller shops out of business are not stocking comparable ranges of goods and leaving shoppers wondering where to look next. Which is why people turn to the internet- in desperation and not necessarily as the first resort. Yarmouth is not a small town-around 47k in the town and 90K in the borough, completely astonishing that it cannot support more shops. The best thing GYBC could do is to offer incentives to Norwich commuters to buy housing in the town-where else in Norfolk could you buy terraced houses @ £160K for Four ! ?( Auction estimate). The town is just too full of benefit dependents who have moved in because of the availability of rental properties.

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    Daisy Roots

    Wednesday, February 22, 2012

  • another empty retail unit in the town center.Yarmouth is already dead.If you take away the bookmakers,the banks,the charity shops and the pound shops what do you have left??? Palmers,debenhams,boots and errrrrrrrrr thats about it. would the last one out please turn off the lights.

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    timmy_two_sheds

    Wednesday, February 22, 2012

  • Please step forward Chloe Smith for your next opportunity about people being jobless and the support your cronie party will offer these people (which is nothing)

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    chebram71

    Wednesday, February 22, 2012

  • Yet another shop to close in Yarmouth, I think if we're honest, we knew that Yarmouth would be on the closure list, its seasonal, it has a poor rating amongst the 'best place to live and work' list and isn't exactly on the rich list for residents income. The only companies that get anything from Yarmouth are the food stores and the ones around the Harbour. Well known companies will not come here, more shops will close, Yarmouth is slowly dying, it will be a town only open for people during the summer season, the rest of the year it will be a ghost town and companies whether they sell food, clothes, shoes or furniture want to open in places that get a lot of people all year around, not a seasonal holiday area. We can't forget either that another reason for the closing of shops is the internet, why go out and buy when you can get it on-line, a lot of companies work this way now but some don't and can't, these are the smaller shops and stores who will undoubtedly end up shutting up shop.

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    Spooky

    Wednesday, February 22, 2012



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