Closure: Beales sells a range of homeware and fashion brands including Barbour, which counts model Alexa Chung (pictured) among its ambassadors.
Retail bosses said the closure of the historic store ‘illustrates the devastating impact’ of the rise in National Insurance contributions and higher minimum wage, which comes into force in April.
Beales boss Tony Brown told The Telegraph the store had become ‘unviable’ with the cost rises announced in Labour’s October Budget, and ‘the risks and uncertainty of further tax increases’.
The department store sells homeware and fashion brands including Barbour, which counts model Alexa Chung among its ambassadors.
One of the oldest UK department store chains is shutting its last shop, blaming Budget tax and wage increases.
