New Peacocks owners could save jobs and stores

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Staff at Peacocks could see their jobs saved after the fashion chain was rescued from administration.

An international consortium has bought the company, announcing plans to re-open around half of their stores.

Prior to collapse there were 400 Peacocks stores across the country – details are not yet known on which stores will re-open and which will remain permanently closed.

In Lanarkshire, the chain has stores in the Rutherglen Exchange shopping centre, the Antonine Centre in Cumbernauld, Princess Square in East Kilbride, Lanark Retail Park, Brandon Parade South in Motherwell, and Station Road in Shotts.

The chain was previously owned by Edinburgh Woollen Mills (EWM), which fell into financial trouble last year as the COVID-19 pandemic forced shops to remain closed.

The company was considered to have struggled to establish an online presence, meaning that they could not adjust to being a digital-only company for several months last year. The new buyers are an international consortium, led by Peacocks’former chief operating officer, Steve Simpson.

He hopes to reopen the stores once non-essential retailers are allowed out of lockdown.

The new owner will pick up the £70million tab owed to unsecured creditors – including suppliers and landlords.

EWM Group is a private investment group controlled by the Day family, which is owed money by Peacocks and is supporting the consortium. The business acquired Peacocks in 2012, saving 388 stores, after the chain first collapsed into administration.

Peacock was founded in Warrington, Cheshire, in 1884 when Albert Frank Peacock founded Peacock’s Penny Bazaar.

It moved its headquarters to Cardiff in 1940.

Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Ponden Home and Bonmarche were rescued from administration in early January, in a complex deal with the investment consortium Purepay Retail.