Will Clintons end up being next casualty on the High Street?

GREETINGS card chain Clintons could become the latest casualty on the High Street, as it looks to close 66 shops to save money.

The retailer, which operates more than 300 stores, wants to shift another 206 of its locations on to rent deals tied to the shops’ performance.

Clintons is trying to push the proposals through using a controversial insolvency procedure called a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) on November 20, but it needs a majority of its landlords to consent.

Clintons’ backers, the Weiss family, are understood to be ready to put the business into administration if the CVA is not passed – putting 2,500 jobs at risk.

It comes after Mothercare was forced to close all 79 of its UK stores last week, and as figures reveal that Britain’s high streets suffered their worst October on record for customer visits.

The number of people who went into a High Street shop tumbled by 4.9 per cent last month, according to data from Springboard.

In response, some of retail’s biggest names called on the next Chancellor to launch an urgent review of England’s business rates. The bosses of Sainsbury’s, Ikea UK, Primark and Halfords slammed the ‘unfair’ tax that punishes businesses operating in bricks-andmortar stores rather than online.

Mike Coupe, of Sainsbury’s, Ikea’s Peter Jelkeby, Primark’s John Bason and Halfords’ Graham Stapleton said retailers would go under if changes are not made.

This newspaper’s long-running Save Our High Streets campaign calls for a level playing field between traditional shops and their newer online rivals.

Less than two weeks ago, a committee of MPs called for a root-and-branch review of the rates.