Homebase closures put 2,000 jobs at risk

UP TO 2,000 jobs are at risk at Homebase after the DIY chain’s Australian owner announced it is to close as many as 40 stores.

Retail giant Wesfarmers, which bought the British firm for £340million, had promised to woo shoppers with barbecues and outdoor hot tubs.

But two years after the takeover, the company had to admit yesterday its UK experiment had failed.

Wesfarmers is preparing for the British stores to lose £97million in the first half of this year, with the takeover set to cost the business £454million.

Sources in Australia even suggested that Wesfarmers could pull out of the UK for good, putting all 250 Homebase stores at risk.

Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott said: ‘A lot of the underlying causes of the losses have been through our doing.’

The firm had originally planned to rename hundreds of Homebase stores after its Australian chain Bunnings.

Down Under, the shops have a huge following thanks to their ‘sausage sizzle’ weekend barbecues.

Last year Wesfarmers opened its first Bunnings store in the UK to huge fanfare, hosting a grand opening in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

It axed the entire UK senior management team as well as 160 other managers, replaced the distinctive orange and green Homebase signs, and got rid of concessions such as Argos, Habitat and Laura Ashley.

Kitchens and bathrooms were axed in favour of Aussie favourites such as coal-fuelled cookers.

But customers were unimpressed with the renovation as they struggled to find household necessities and even heaters in the winter.