Department store Beales in Peterborough is set to close early in the New Year

Department chain Beales has announced that its Peterborough store is to close - less than two years after it opened.

About 20 jobs will be lost when the store in Westgate finally ceases trading some time in January next year.

Staff were told of the closure early today.

Chief executive Tony Brown said he was extremely disappointed that the decision to close needed to be taken.

The company has been embroiled in a battle with Peterborough City Council and the Valuation Office Agency for some months over its business rates bill.

Mr Brown said: “We were being charged about £300,000 a year for use of the entire building when in fact we only use 12,000 square feet on the ground floor - which equates to a bill of between £40,000 and £50,000 a year,.

“The business is just not viable faced with a demand for £300,000. With other cost pressures it was the last straw.

“It’s higher than London’s Oxford Street per pound per square foot.

“I don’t think the council is fully aware of the challenges facing businesses at the moment.

He added: “It is not possible to move to anywhere else in Peterborough as it is all too expensive.

“I am really disappointed as I like Peterborough.

“With the loss of staff and the concessions holders here, about 20 jobs have gone.”

Mr Brown said there would be a closing down sale through November with the store expected to shut for good at some point in January.

He said plans to redevelop the Westgate buildings would have closed the store in about two years.

It is the second time the iconic retail brand has closed in Peterborough.

Beales occupied two floors of the same Westgate premises for nine years before the national retailer’s collapse into administration in 2020.

The Beales web address and brand were bought last year by New Start 2020, of which Mr Brown was a director.

Mr Brown, who was chief executive at the original Beales, said ahead of the opening of the new store in May 2021: “The Peterborough store always traded to a high standard and we see a future here for us.

"I am very confident that it will work well."