Peacocks potentially to reopen stores

Edinburgh Woollen Mill, the new owner of the Peacocks clothing

chain, is now in talks with landlords regarding the potential re-opening of 75 of the 224 stores which closed last week.

The knitwear retailer acquired 338 Peacocks stores out of administration last week saving 6,000 jobs.

Philip Day, chairman of Edinburgh Woollen Mill, has said he wants to save as many jobs as possible and hopes to rehire around 80 staff members who were made redundant from Peacocks' headquarters in Cardiff.

Day says: "A lot of the 244 stores that closed were blindingly unprofitable so we don't want to reopen those, but if we get the right sort of deals we could reopen 75 of them."

He added: "We will look to go to monthly rents and get a rent reduction. If we can get new lease deals, we'll try to reopen those shops."

The Peacocks chain collapsed in January as as it struggled with debts of £240 million.