Green to shut even more stores

SIR Philip Green is set to shut even more stores across his Arcadia retail empire than expected as it struggles to attract customers.

The number stores due to close is expected to at least double the 23 outlined in rescue documents published this week, according to the Guardian.

This is likely to put several hundred more jobs at risk in addition to the 520 announced on Thursday. Arcadia, which owns Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Miss Selfridge, employs around 18,000 staff.

Green ( pictured right with his daughter-Chloe) was also told to ensure the retirement pot at Arcadia is fully funded – whatever it costs him.

The 67-year-old tycoon has been sent a warning letter by Independent MP Frank Field, chairman of the Pensions Select Committee, an old foe with whom he clashed following the collapse of department store BHS.

Green has been urged to cough up extra money as he scrambles to get rent reductions from landlords and close unprofitable stores.

Arcadia’s pension fund has a funding black hole of more than £500m.

As part of a rescue deal, Green is proposing that Arcadia cuts the amount of money it pays into the pension pot by half, to £25m a year.

Field, MP for Birkenhead, has now joined in the criticism, saying that the pension deficit is ‘worryingly high’.