Burnham to crack down on vape and betting shops August 11, 2026 Andy Burnham is set to unveil a crackdown on vape and betting shops in a bid to boost British high streets, which the Prime Minister says have been “hollowed out” in recent decades. Burnham will on Tuesday set out plans to scrap the Blair-era “aim to permit” rule, which requires councils to accept planning applications [...]
Harvey Nichols will collapse without rescue deal, directors warn August 10, 2026 Harvey Nichols will collapse into administration if a rescue buyer is not found, directors of the luxury department store chain have warned. The retail empire will “cease trading” if it fails to agree a sale and no additional funding is found, the group’s directors cautioned in its latest accounts. Harvey Nichols could find a buyer [...]
Can a team of retail veterans solve Argos’ catalogue of woes? July 31, 2026 The death of the Argos catalogue in 2021 after nearly half a century prompted a period of mourning for many in Britain – including the retailer’s new owner. “I used to sit around the kitchen table putting green shield stamps into books,” Richard Pennycook said on Friday, referring to the original iteration of the catalogue. [...]
Sainsbury’s to sell Argos in £120m cut-price deal July 31, 2026 Sainsbury’s has said it will sell long-struggling catalogue retailer Argos for £120m, a fraction of the £1.4bn it bought it for a decade ago. The supermarket giant has struck a deal with Swift Partners – a new company led by On the Beach chairman Richard Pennycook and former Morrisons boss Trevor Strain. Their takeover will [...]
Currys hands outgoing boss Alex Baldock £2m pay rise July 30, 2026 FTSE 250 giant Currys has handed its outgoing boss Alex Baldock a more-than-£2 m pay rise, capping off the chief executive’s successful turnaround of the business. The electrical retailer handed Baldock a £6.3m total pay package this year, marking a 54 per cent hike from last year’s £4.1m. Baldock joined Currys in 2018 and is [...]
Greggs eyes 3,500 sites – but its plans could prove to be flaky July 30, 2026 Sausage roll titan Greggs is already a fixture of almost every British high street, but it’s not done yet. Felix Armstrong chews through its latest expansion plans As Brits jet off to Spain for their summer holidays this year, they will be met with a familiar sight as they touch down at Tenerife airport. Beloved [...]
On a roll: Greggs shares soar as it doubles down on aggressive expansion July 29, 2026 Shares in Greggs soared on Wednesday as the bakery chain said it plans to reach at least 3,500 stores in the UK after a jump in profit in the first half of the year. The sausage roll purveyor reported a 20 per cent boost in pre-tax profit to £76m in the six months to June, [...]
Next and Frasers go head to head for control of Harvey Nichols July 28, 2026 Retail giants Next and Frasers are set to go head to head for control of ailing department store Harvey Nichols when the Hong Kong-owned firm takes bids from British suitors later on Tuesday. The Knightsbridge-headquartered department store chain was put up for sale last month by its owner, Hong Kong billionaire Sir Dickson Poon, and [...]
Brits dodge the high street as heatwave boosts online shopping July 24, 2026 Retail sales jumped in June as the heatwave and heavy discounting drove Brits towards online shopping. The volume of retail sales jumped by one per cent in June, having slowed slightly from 1.2 per cent growth in May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Online shopping grew to the largest proportion of total [...]
Social media ban driving ‘screen-free’ sales, The Works boss says July 23, 2026 The boss of discount retailer The Works has said the government’s crackdown on social media usage has driven customers towards the “screen-free activities” offered in his stores. Gavin Peck, chief executive of the Aim-listed retailer, believes Labour’s incoming social media ban has pushed up demand among parents for analogue activities for their children and was [...]