"Swift and brutal" closure for Peacocks in Bournemouth and Poole

The budget fashion chain was in administration until Edinburgh Woollen Mill bought out the most profitable stores.

The deal saves 388 shops and 6,000 jobs but 224 closed immediately yesterday afternoon with 3,100 redundancies.

They included Bournemouth town centre’s Richmond Gardens store (11 jobs), Boscombe Sovereign Centre, (12), Parkstone in Poole (10), and Poole High Street (16).

Branches were saved in Ringwood (13 jobs), Dorchester (17) and Weymouth (26).

Parkstone manager Leanda Leighton told the Echo: “It’s very sad news – it was swift and brutal.

“We were closed by the administrators KPMG at about 3pm.

“Tomorrow we will be on the dole queue looking for jobs.”

The Poole town centre shop was shut with an A4 sheet of paper informing customers the store was closed for good.

Shopper Karen Keep said: “Peacocks has been here a long time and it’s horrible to know even more people will be out of work.

“I guess this isn’t the best time to be in retail, and maybe the internet takes a lot of business away from stores like this.”

The Boscombe closure hits a shopping centre that has also seen the recent departures of TJ Hughes and Robert Dyas.

Retailer Steve Taylor from King of the Kurtains said: “It’s another nail in the coffin for retail in Boscombe.

“It wasn’t a huge draw but it’s the cumulative effect of the closures.”

The Richmond Shopping Gardens store was closed with a notice thanking people for their custom. It now stands next to another empty shopping unit.

Tony Brown, manager of Beales, said: “An administration gives you the opportunity to get rid of stores that are unprofitable.

“Stores are generally unprofitable because of high rents.

“And I have to say, the rents in Bournemouth are high.”

Chris Laverty, joint administrator at KPMG, said: “While it is unfortunate that redundancies have been necessary, we are pleased that we have been able to preserve the majority of the business and jobs.”