Both Poundworld stores will close in town centre

BOTH Poundworld stores in Huddersfield will close before the end of this month, it was announced yesterday.

Administrators for the ailing discount chain have included the stores at New Street and the Piazza Shopping Centre among 80 stores to go with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs. These two stores employ 17 people.

The Dewsbury store will also be axed so the nearest ones left are in Brighouse and Halifax.

The 80 stores will all close over the weekend of July 20 to 22. They also include three stores in Leeds and two in Bradford.

That will leave Poundworld with just 230 branches still open.

The closures are in addition to 25 store closures announced on July 10, which resulted in 242 redundancies.

Administrators at Deloitte said the latest closures will not affect the potential sale of the remaining business and that discussions with interested parties were ongoing.

Joint administrator Clare Boardman said: “While we remain hopeful that a sale for part, or parts, of the business can still happen, it has not been possible to sell the business as a whole.

“We would like to thank all the employees for their continued support and commitment during this difficult time.

“We are keeping staff appraised of developments as they happen.”

Poundworld, which was formerly owned by private equity firm TPG Capital, had been operating with 335 stores and about 5,100 staff before it went bust last month.

Deloitte’s talks with interested parties have also involved the future of Poundworld’s distribution centre and head office in Normanton where 100 people have already been made redundant.

Deloitte has turned down a bid for Poundworld from its founder, Chris Edwards, who was looking to save a raft of stores and safeguard about 3,000 jobs.