Signs appear in Melton store to confirm closure

Signs have appeared overnight inside Melton's TG Jones store in Market Place confirming it's to close as part of the group's wider restructure plans.

TG Jones, previously known as WH Smith before its rebranding last year, currently operates more than 450 stores with 4,700 staff mostly in the UK.

Signs appeared in the shop window on Monday night saying 'everything must go' and that the store will be closing down.

It was announced last month that the restructure had been given the go ahead.

It is now set to close 150 of those stores as part of a "restructuring" plan which was approved by the High Court on Wednesday (July 1st).

The TG Jones store in Market Place. Inset; the signs in the shop window. Photo: NEMM

TG Jones said the store closures are part of a wider plan to rescue the business from insolvency.

The closures will affect hundreds of jobs across the UK and now here in Melton, although the company has not confirmed the exact number of redundancies expected.

The restructuring plan forecasts the business will end up with 302 stores depending on how many landlords exercise their rights to terminate the lease instead of accepting reduced rents.

Modella Capital bought the chain stores last year and they were then rebranded under the name TG Jones. There are currently around 451 stores employing 4,700 workers.