August 6, 2018 2.25 pm This story is over 67 months old

House of Fraser closures still on track

Stores in Lincoln and Grimsby will close in January
The Lincoln House of Fraser store on High Street will close. Photo: Joseph Verney for The Lincolnite

House of Fraser’s stores in Lincoln and Grimsby are still set to close in January 2019 after the company reached a settlement with its landlords.

As previously reported, Lincoln’s House of Fraser and the store in Grimsby will be among 31 nationwide to face the chop in January 2019 and these plans are still on track.

House of Fraser issued a statement confirming the challenge by a group of its landlords to its company voluntary arrangements (CVA) has now been settled.

The statement read: “House of Fraser announces that the challenges by a group of its landlords to its Company Voluntary Arrangements, which were approved at meetings of the companies’ creditors on June 22 2018, have been settled.

“House of Fraser is focused on concluding discussions with interested investors as per the original timelines set out by the business and, recognising the risks in and around this litigation, has entered this settlement now to remove any risk to those discussions presented by this legal process.”

A spokesperson for House of Fraser told The Lincolnite: “The store closures are still on track for January 2019, including Lincoln and Grimsby – they will continue trading, however, until the scheduled closures in the new year.”

When the CVA was first announced House of Fraser confirmed all 129 staff members employed directly by the company or its concessions at the Lincoln store were notified and will be supported throughout the process.

Some 149 staff members are affected at the Grimsby store.

The building is in the eyeline of developers who hope to see it as a pop-up mall in the future as proposed at the Built Environment Networking’s Lincolnshire Development Plans Conference.