Peacocks in Bouverie Place in Folkestone town centre holds 'closing down sale'
Published: 12:31, 05 December 2018
Updated: 16:19, 10 December 2018
Clothing chain Peacocks could be shutting one of its branches after signs appeared in its shop windows advertising a "closing down sale".
Large red signs have appeared in the windows of the site in Bouverie Place Shopping Centre in Folkestone this week.
The signs add the footnote that the closure is 'subject to landlord negotiation'.
A spokesman for Peacocks said: "Peacocks have over 500 stores nationwide.
"We are constantly reviewing our costs to ensure the long term profitability of our company.
"Unfortunately, this means we have a few stores that are closing down.
"We are continuing to discuss costs with the landlord which may enable the Folkestone store to continue."
It's not known if there is a date for the potential closure or if jobs are at risk, while staff at the store remain tight lipped about the situation.
The news comes just a few months after high street brand Next left the shopping centre.
The branch shut in July but all 24 jobs were saved by transfers to Dover at the new St James Retail Park store.
Bouverie Place shopping centre opened in the town in November 2007 and the £30m complex took two years to build. Next had been on the site in Alexandra Gardens since its opening.
Choice Discount Store filled the empty unit a few weeks later.
Peacocks was established in Warrington in 1884, as a family run business selling a wide range of goods.
In January 2012, Peacocks entered administration and was bought by The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group which also owns the Jane Norman chain.
The chain currently employs over 6,000 people and there are currently over 400 Peacocks retail outlets located in the UK.
Bouverie Place Shopping Centre in Folkestone has also been contacted for comment.
More by this author
Molly Mileham-Chappell