FOUR Kent jobs are likely to be lost as international fashion retailer Mexx announced it was pulling out of outlets in the county and across the UK.

Amid growing pressure on High Street spending, the US-owned clothes giant, which has 9,000 outlets in 50 countries, said it would pull out of all House of Fraser and John Lewis stores in the UK by July 31.

This will mean the closure of the Mexx concession at the House of Fraser in Fremlin Walk, Maidstone, where Mexx employs four staff. The concession will also close at the flagship John Lewis store at Bluewater, where Mexx does not employ its own staff.

Siska Draijer, spokesman at Mexx's Dutch-based press office said: "With House of Fraser in the area of Kent it involves four people at risk of redundancy, but Mexx will support these employees through a redeployment and enhanced retention program with outplacement support.

"A programme of consultation will take place, with no redundancies planned to occur before July 31."

Across the UK, 300 jobs will be affected by the closures, although these are understood to be centred on Mexx's main stores in London’s Oxford Street, Covent Garden and Edinburgh.

Louise Thomson, press manager at John Lewis said the company had decided last year to discontinue Mexx and had been planning to stop selling it in the autumn.

She said: "We had no prior knowledge of yesterday's decision to withdraw from the UK."

A spokesman for Beales at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge said Mexx had closed their outlet at the store last month.

The announcement came days after John Lewis said sales at Bluewater suffered a fall in the week ending February 16, traditionally the time when stores begin to rally after the end of sales slump.

Sales for the week were 17.2 per cent down on the same week last year.

.Mexx will continue to operate its wholesale business in both the UK and Republic of Ireland. It will continue to operate factory outlets in the UK.