Need to know
A large number of stores around Merseyside have closed without a word
Sayers on St Mary’s Road, Garston
Full list of over 30 Sayers and Poundbakery sites listed as ‘permanently closed’
- S&PB Retail Ltd, the company behind Sayers the Bakers and Poundbakery, has listed more than 30 stores across the country as “permanently closed” on Google. This follows an announcement last month that around 19 Sayers branches would close at the end of August after the company determined they were “no longer commercially viable.”
- Sayers has a long history dating back to 1912, when Fred and Lylian Sayer began selling baked goods from a basement kitchen in Old Swan. The family business has since undergone several changes, including a partial rebranding as Poundbakery and a number of ownership changes. The company is now owned by Karen Wood and managed by Mark James and David Silvester, with almost 40 stores nationwide.
- The planned closures were announced following what the company described as a comprehensive review of its store portfolio. Senior management identified 19 underperforming branches for closure, with the move expected to result in around 100 redundancies among the company’s approximately 800 employees. However, the company did not publicly confirm the full list of affected stores when the closures were announced.
- The ECHO previously reported that some branches were still operating on the morning of Thursday, September 3, before speaking to a member of staff who claimed they had been given just 24 hours’ notice that their store would close the following day. The employee said they were subsequently waiting to begin the process of seeking redundancy.
- The ECHO contacted Sayers again for clarification over the full list of closures, redundancies and the timing of staff notifications, but the company did not provide a response. Meanwhile, a number of Sayers and Poundbakery properties have now been marked as permanently closed on Google, while some former shop premises have already been placed back on the market.
Full story: Full list of over 30 Sayers and Pound Bakery sites listed as ‘permanently closed’
