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Major fashion chain to shut high street store for good in just weeks as 100 branches remain at risk
A MAJOR fashion chain will shut a popular high street store with hundreds more at risk of closing.
A retail park has confirmed it will be saying goodbye to this site favourite at the end of next month.
New Look in Preston will close on March 20, leaving shoppers having to look elsewhere for the latest fashion.
The brand will close its doors at St George’s Shopping Centre after multiple site closures across the country.
In the store window, the retailer popped up a sign reading: “Preston St George, thanks for having us. But it’s time to say goodbye.
“This store will be closing on Thursday 20th March.”
Customers were then offered a QR code taking them to the New Look website to scour the shop online.
Shoppers were told this was the alternative if you want a “feel-good fashion fix, 24/7.”
At the beggining of the year New Look revealed they would “accelerate future store closures” as each branches lease expires, according to The Times.
This was primarily due to tax spikes looming ahead after Rachel Reeves released the Autumn budget.
There are warnings that a quarter of all the chain stores could be scrapped – which is around 91 branches.
New Look fans in Ireland were gutted to hear that 26 stores would be shutting in the region with far more remaining at risk of vanishing.
Other stores that have got the axe include one in Porth branch in Rhondda Cynon Taf and two in Gateshead.
New Look confirmed the latter with a Facebook post reading: “CLOSING DOWN SALE ALERT!
“It’s time for BIG savings at New Look Team Valley! We’re saying goodbye on March 9th, and everything must go! Tops for just £3! Dresses for only £5! Bottoms for £7! And SO MUCH MORE!
“Hurry in before it’s all gone! Don’t miss out on the biggest bargains of the year! Sale ends March 9th! See you there!”
The St Austell branch in Cornwall is set to shut on March 4, putting up farewell signs reading: “It’s time to say goodbye.”
Other branches that have already disappeared include the Carillon Court Shopping Centre site, the Wickford branch, and the Bracknell store.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT NEW LOOK
The popular fashion brand is implementing a programme before April’s National Insurance increase.
This new plan will put a quarter of New Looks branches are closing for good after their lease expires.
Approximately 91 sites will be impacted which will have a knock-on effect to the staff, plunging 8,000 employees into potential job insecurity.
This isn’t the first time New Look shaken up its portfolio of UK stores, with 600 being scrapped in 2018.
The company has restructured its store estate twice in the past six years, reducing its portfolio from around 600 UK stores in 2018.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
HISTORY OF NEW LOOK
FOUNDED in 1969 by Tom Singh with a modest loan of £5,000 from his parents, the first shop opened in Taunton, Somerset.
Singh’s vision was simple but revolutionary: to offer the latest fashion trends at accessible prices.
This focus on “fast fashion” proved a winning formula, propelling the brand’s rapid growth throughout the following decades.
By the 1990s, New Look had expanded significantly, growing from 200 to an impressive 1,000 stores.
This period saw the introduction of new lines, including menswear, teen, and maternity wear, further broadening the brand’s appeal.
Embracing the digital age, New Look launched its online store in 2007, bringing its trendy offerings to an even wider audience.
The brand’s success wasn’t confined to the UK. New Look expanded internationally, establishing a presence in numerous countries across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
At its peak, the company boasted over 900 stores internationally and employed over 18,000 staff.
New Look’s ownership structure has also evolved over the years. In 2004, the company went private, with founder Tom Singh, chief executive Phil Wrigley, and private equity investors taking the reins.
In 2015, South African investment firm Brait SE acquired a 90% stake in New Look for £780 million, with the Singh family and management retaining the remaining 10%.
Tom Singh himself announced his departure from the company in 2019, marking the end of an era for the brand he buil
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Bizarre moment Premier League game comes to complete standstill as players just stand and look at each other for 10 secs
FULHAM and Crystal Palace’s Premier League clash came to a complete standstill when two players fought for the ball.
Palace defeated the Cottagers 2-0 on Saturday at Craven Cottage thanks to an own-goal by Joachim Andersen and a goal by Daniel Munoz.
https://twitter.com/Football__Tweet/status/1893658318465577268
Andersen, 28, though, didn’t go viral for accidentally sending the ball behind his own net against his former club.
But for a bizarre standoff he had with former team-mate Eberechi Eze down the left wing.
Eze, 26, gained possession of the ball and was marked by the Fulham ace.
The England international waited for Andersen to come for the ball but his opponent stood there and looked at him.
The Denmark international then pointed at his wrist like it had a watch on to tell the Palace star to get on with it.
The forward tried to bait Andersen with some tricks but the centre-back wouldn’t leave his position.
The standoff continued for about 10 seconds until Eze finally passed the ball away.
Fans were left absolutely baffled and amazed as they stormed social media.
One fan tweeted: “The only way to defend against Eze.”
Another commented: “Defender’s nightmare.”
A third wrote: “Just hope you’re not the one on the receiving end of that skill!”
This fan said: “Scared of getting skinned alive by Eze.”
And that one stated: “This is a funny game indeed.”
Man City vs Liverpool LIVE SCORE: Erling Haaland a doubt for City as Reds look to extend lead at top of Premier League
LIVERPOOL travel to the Etihad to take on Manchester City in a blockbuster clash TODAY.
The Reds can go an incredible 11 points clear at the top of the table after second-placed Arsenal slipped to a 1-0 defeat to West Ham yesterday.
Liverpool face a wounded City side following their Champions League exit to Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
Erling Haaland was an unused substitute in the Spanish capital and is an injury doubt for this afternoon’s clash with the league leaders.
- Kick-off time: 4:30pm GMT
- TV channel: Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League
- Live stream: NOW/Sky Sports app
- Man City XI: team to follow…
- Liverpool XI: team to follow…
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‘Completely bonkers’ – The abandoned plans for a £39billion ‘floating’ airport in the UK
AN unusual floating airport was nearly built in the UK, after being backed by a former London mayor.
Back in 2012, the ambitious plans were for an offshore airport on a sandbank near Deal, Kent.
Designed by engineering firm Beckett Rankine, the airport on would sit atop Goodwin Sands, a 10-mile sandbank in Kent where thousands of shipwrecks are said to have taken place.
Initially wanting to be a three-runway airport, there were plans to extend to have four, or even six runways as a “hub for Northern Europe”.
With flights operating 24 hours a day, it would welcome up to 150million passengers a year.
The airport was pitched back in 2012 in a bid to solve London‘s aviation crisis.
At the time, the proposal was welcomed by engineering experts and London‘s former mayor, Boris Johnson.
Computer-generated images from over a decade ago show the four runways sitting on top of the sand bank like they’re floating.
When the plans were presented, engineer Beckett, said: “If the Davies Commission endorses the long-term requirement for a new, four-runway hub airport for London, then locating it at Goodwin will have the least adverse social and environmental impact of any option”.
Daniel Moylan, who was the aviation adviser to Boris Johnson when he was the mayor of London, added at the time: “The mayor has been encouraging proposals for a new airport to the east of London and this proposal is welcome as a contribution to a critical national debate and as a demonstration that a new airport is feasible and deliverable.”
Estimates for how much it would cost were around £39billion.
Despite the positive response, the plans were dismissed as “completely bonkers,” according to Kent Live and were later scrapped.
Even though the plans were shelved, Goodwin Airport’s X (formerly Twitter) account continued to promote the idea in 2020.
Responding to plans for another airport in the south-east of England, they wrote: “Better still build the airport on the Goodwin Sands.”
The idea and designs for Goodwin Airport were put forward around the same time as plans were discussed to build an airport in the Thames Estuary.
London Britannia was meant to be built on an island just outside the English capital.
The airport was going to be operational for 24 hours a day, hoping to make the most of its six runways.
Also known as the Thames Hub Airport and Boris Island, the airport was going to cost £50billion to build.
Roughly 110million passengers were predicted to use the air hub.
But plans for London Britannia were scrapped in 2014 over environmental concerns.
Elsewhere in the capital, London was very nearly home to another airport that was going to be built on the Thames, with planes flying right over Big Ben and Parliament.
The plans were proposed back in the 1930s and the designs were even published in Popular Science Magazine – although they never came to fruition.
And Kings Cross Station was even nearly turned into an airport.
UK airports with plans to reopen
Here are some other UK airports with relaunch plans.
- Plymouth Airport – Despite closing more than 13 years ago, the local council confirmed that it could one day reopen.
- Doncaster Sheffield Airport – The airport closed in November 2022, and could reopen thanks to a new multi-million-pound plan, with TUI possibly relaunching flights at the airport.
- Manston Airport – The Kent-based airport closed back in 2014 after it reported huge losses. Despite being closed for over a decade, airport bosses remain hopeful that passenger flights will one day resume, although it will need a huge overhaul
Meanwhile, a major UK airport will get a huge new train station with high-speed routes – making it ‘easier to get to than Heathrow’.
London Stansted Airport confirmed a £1.1billion renovation, with a £600million new terminal.
Teenage boy, 17, stabbed in the chest inside Nottingham Primark ‘in full view’ of shoppers with knifeman on the loose
A TEENAGE boy has been rushed to hospital after being stabbed in the chest in a Primark.
The 17–year-old was attacked in “full view” of shoppers at the store in Nottingham city centre this morning.
Cops believe there was an altercation outside the Long Row shop between a group of youths prior to the incident at around 11.30am on Sunday.
A suspect then fled towards Old Market Square.
The victim was treated at the scene by paramedics and was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Detectives are now urging witnesses to come forward with any information they may have.
“This was an appalling act of violence carried out in full view of members of the public,” said Detective Inspector Paul Shortt.
“A team of detectives is now working to understand exactly what happened in the moments before, during and after this incident.
“To this end they want to hear from anyone who saw or heard any part of what happened. No matter how significant you think your information may be, we want to hear from you without delay.”
Primark remains closed on Sunday afternoon as police continue to investigate.
The entrances off Long Row and Clumber Street are both taped off.
Anyone with information about this incident should call 101 quoting incident 241 of 23 February 2025. Information can also be passed in confidence to Crimestoppers.
Do you know more? Email [email protected]
