Next pulls out of Stafford town centre

High Street giant Next is pulling out of its store in Stafford town centre, the Express & Star can reveal today.

Bosses have decided to close the branch in Gaolgate Street as they believe the Next at Queens Retail Park and nearby Next Home are sufficient to meet demand.

They today pledged no jobs would be lost as 17 staff employed at the town centre clothes shop will be redeployed to the other Stafford branches.

The date the store will close is yet to be fixed.

Spokesman Matt King said the decision to close the store had been taken in isolation and was not part of any wider restructure.

"Next can confirm that the store on Gaolgate Street in Stafford will be closing. The staff will be redeployed into other stores in the area," he said. "As this has just been announced the date of closure has not yet been confirmed."

Stafford Borough Council spokesman Will Conaghan said the authority was anxious to help fill the shop as soon as possible.

"Next own the building and they are already marketing it for let," he said. "We will be actively promoting the premises as the site is in a prime town centre location and represents a great opportunity for another business."

Next opened its retail park store in August 2008 and the Next Home outlet in March last year.

Today's news comes after the British Retail Consortium reported it had recorded its worst fall in sales since records began in 1996, a further sign of difficult times on the high street.

The consortium said total sales in March were down 1.9 per cent on a year ago, although the early timing of Easter last year had an effect on the figures.

Clothing, food and drink, homeware and electricals all fell while footwear was the only growth sector. And like-for-like sales were down 3.5 per cent in their worst showing in nearly six years.