Peacocks store to close in Lisburn

The clothing retailer went into administration last month and has now been sold to the Scottish retailer, Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

It is to close 19 shops in Northern Ireland with the loss of more than 250 jobs. The three stores in Belfast will also close.

Chris Laverty from KPMG, who were acting as administrators, said: “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.”

The Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association has expressed concern the closures will have a considerable impact on local town centres.

Glyn Roberts, NIIRTA Chief Executive said: “This is a truly bad day for our retail sector and for a number of local town centres. While some stores have been saved we are disappointed that 19 are closing with the loss of so many jobs. This also results in another 19 empty shops in our local town centres adding to Northern Ireland’s status as already having the highest shop vacancies in the UK.”

“These 19 stores, earmarked for closure, will very soon result in less foot-fall for retailers in local town centres and put even more pressure on struggling traders.

“I hope that we can get these vacant units filled with new retailers as soon as possible.”