WHSmith to close due to shopping centre 'redevelopment plans'

Ben Carr
·2-min read
File photo dated 23/1/2013 of a branch of WH Smith in London. WHSmith has once again been voted the UK's worst high street shop in an annual survey. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday May 29, 2019. The chain, which has consistently finished bottom of the Which? survey in previous years, propped up the table with a meagre customer score of 50%, just below Homebase and the former Bunnings on 53% and Sports Direct on 54%. See PA story CONSUMER HighStreet. Photo credit should read: Philip Toscano/PA Wire
-Credit: (Image: Philip Toscano/PA Wire)


WHSmith is to close its store in a Leicestershire town due to a “redevelopment" scheme for the shopping centre in which it is based. The store in Loughborough’s Carillon Court Shopping Centre is set to close next year, a spokeswoman for the company said.

WHSmith said it was "disappointed" to be closing, but said the move was necessary “owing to the landlord’s redevelopment plans”. The company's statement appears to support widely-circulated rumours that changes could be afoot for the centre, in particular that Carillon Court could be turned into student flats.

However, those rumours have never been confirmed officially, and no planning application has been submitted. LeicestershireLive has approached retail property consultant Space, which works on behalf of the centre’s owners, on several occasions about the rumours, but is yet to receive a response.

READ MORE: Plan to convert Leicestershire pub and build three cottages in car park

Carillon Court in Loughborough
Carillon Court in Loughborough -Credit:Leicester Mercury

The spokeswoman for WHSmith said: “We can confirm that the WHSmith store in Loughborough will be closing next year, owing to the landlord’s redevelopment plans. We are disappointed to be losing our presence in Loughborough and we would like to thank all our customers for their support and for shopping with us.

“We are also extremely grateful for the commitment of our in store colleagues who we will support with this transition and redeploy to nearby stores, where possible.”

A number of stores have closed in the Carillon over the past year after they were told their leases would not be renewed. These included Oh Pretty Co, The Repair Shop and Grape Tree. Other stores have left the shopping centre for different reasons, such as The Body Shop, which closed several stores when the company went into administration.

LeicestershireLive has approached several other stores in the Carillon for comment on whether they would be closing, including EE, Claire’s, The Works, New Look, Vision Express and H.Samuel.

A spokesman for Vision Express said they could not comment, while LeicestershireLive has not received a response from any of the other companies.

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