By Martin Walker
Peacocks in Newton Aycliffe has survived a cull of stores and nearly 200 jobs in the North-East.
The Aycliffe store is one of 16 in the region to stay open, while 10 face the axe.
Peacocks’ deal with Edinburgh Woollen Mill will save 388 shops and more than 6,000 jobs nationally.
But administrators from KPMG said it had been forced to close 224 stores with immediate effect, leading to 3,100 redundancies.
The Peacocks stores closing in the North-East are in Newcastle, Gateshead Metrocentre, Killingworth, Spennymoor, Sunderland, Durham, Middlesbrough, Peterlee and Thornaby.
The stores in our region which have not closed, as well as our own in Aycliffe, include: Chester-le-Street, Washington, Bishop Auckland, Consett, Seaham, Jarrow, North Shields, Hartlepool, Darlington, Whitley Bay, Cramlington, Redcar, Middlesbrough, Coulby Newham and Stockton.
Chris Laverty, joint administrator at KPMG, said: “The deal ensures the continued trading of a well-known name on the high street.
“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.”
Edinburgh Woollen Mill, which has 380 stores, will keep the Cardiff headquarters of Peacocks but KPMG said 16 jobs will go in the city.
KPMG had already announced 249 redundancies from the office.
Peacocks collapsed under a debt mountain last month in the biggest retail failure since Woolworths, placing 7,500 jobs in jeopardy.
Edinburgh, which beat off Indian textile and clothing giant S Kumars Nationwide, said it would attempt to save some of the stores and jobs being lost.
Combined with the 1,400 job losses at Bonmarche, the total number of jobs lost in the failure of Peacocks is now about 4,750.
The chain, which was owned by hedge funds Och-Ziff and Perry Capital, collapsed under its £240m of net debt despite strong trading.
