House of Fraser closure list due Thursday, tense talks continue

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 29, 2018

House of Fraser is expected to announce which of its stores will close and which have been saved on Thursday as negotiations with landlords continue and the company’s new owners accuse some of being greedy.

A number of stores have already been saved, but with negotiations advancing slowly, there is speculation that as many as a dozen sites could be shuttered. This is despite Mike Ashley, who controls new owner Sports Direct, having hoped to keep 80% of the stores in operation.

House of Fraser’s earlier CVA filing would have seen more than half of the locations closing with only 29 remaining.

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As well as Telford, Plymouth and London’s Oxford Street having been confirmed as among those saved yesterday,  it has emerged that stores in Middlesbrough, Darlington and Carlisle have also been given a reprieve.

But there's no news yet on the retailer’s other London flagship or on its historic Beatties store in Wolverhampton.

Ashley has blamed “greedy landlords” for any potential closures, although many voices in the property sector have hit back, saying that the stores are frequently owned by pension funds that need to ensure an income for their stakeholders, or by smaller companies that simply can't afford to go without their rental income for long periods of time.

Melanie Leech, CEO of the British Property Federation, said the talks between HoF and the landlords were a two-party process and “one party simply can’t cry ‘unfair’ when it doesn’t get what it wants.”