IN PICTURES: Sales soar as Furniture Warehouse opens in former Beales store in Peterborough

A new retailer has opened for business in Peterborough by setting up home in an historic part of the city.

Furniture Warehouse has just moved into the former Beales store inside the Victorian-built Westgate House, in Westgate.

The retailer, which stocks a vast array of furniture, from sofas to dining tables, plus a variety of furnishings, began trading a week ago.

A spokesman for the retailer, which has premises in Corby and Market Deeping, said: “We’ve had a brilliant start.”

"Takings over the first 10 working days have been around double our target which is obviously really encouraging. It’s been busy.”

The new store employs seven people, including a store manager, four shopfloor/warehouse staff and two drivers. It has created two jobs at the firm’s HQ in Corby

The former Beales branding has been replaced by that of Furniture Warehouse, which occupies most of the ground floor of the premises that are part of buildings earmarked for a £22 million redevelopment to create 125 apartments and commercial units.

The spokesman said Furniture Warehouse had decided to open in Peterborough following ‘incredible’ success at its Market Deeping branch, which only opened in July.

The opening of the new store comes 10 months after the second closure of the Beales department store.

Beales had occupied two floors of the premises for nine years before the retailer’s collapse into administration in 2020. Its web address and brand were bought in 2021 by New Start 2020 with the new retailer opening in the same building in May with 20 staff.