Closure dates named for TJ Hughes stores

The final death knell was today sounded for three Midland branches of TJ Hughes in moves that will leave 150 workers in the region out of a job. The stores are among 22 to close nationally – but Lichfield has been saved.

Administrators today announced the department chain's Wolverhampton store will close next Thursday and its Walsall and Kidderminster branches three days later.

But the Lichfield branch, which employs 86 people, will remain open after being given a reprieve.

Administrators said 1,061 people nationwide will lose their jobs in the store closures as they continue to seek a sale of the remaining business and its 31 stores.

The loss of the Wolverhampton branch, and its 79 jobs, will leave a gaping hole in the city's Mander Shopping centre. The branch is the centre's biggest store.

Another 37 jobs will be lost in Kidderminster and 41 in Walsall, where TJ Hughes had been based for just two years after taking over the former Woolworths site in Park Street.