British retail chain Laura Ashley, best known for its floral fabrics and designs, will close its Llanidloes shop next month.A spokesman for Laura Ashley announced the clothes shop, based in Great Oak Street, will stop trading at the end of January with the loss of four jobs.
“We can confirm that the store in Llanidloes will close at the end of January.” said the spokesman.
“The lease on the store was up for renewal and it is a very small space in comparison to other stores.
“The product range has grown a lot and it is unable to fit in the store.”
The shop currently employs four people but it is hoped they will be redeployed in the Newtown store, unless they opt for voluntary redundancy.
Councillors are now, however, preparing to fight the decision and a delegation organised by Powys County Council is to visit the company’s headquarters in London to try to force a change of heart.
Councillor Bob Davey said the shop had been threatened in the past but they turned it around.
Laura Ashley died in 1985, aged 60, after an accident at her daughter’s home. She is buried in the churchyard in Carno, Powys.
It was only this year that a new exhibition came to Llanidloes museum charting the history and local connections to Laura Ashley. The display consisted of photographs, documents and artefacts lent to the museum by the Laura Ashley Archives.
Mayor of Llanidloes, Councillor David Jones, said he failed to see how they have that much room in the Newtown store.
He said: “I think we need to do what we can.”
2 Comments
Sadly, everything seems to be closing in Llanidloes. It was once a great place with great people. The same good people are still there, but there’s not much else now.
Just despondancy!! They even spend hours worrying about a little tetra radio mast on an industrial estate. Forget it, and think about Llanidloes!
The population need to fight back, Support local businesses, buy locally, go out in the evenings and patronise their pubs, cafes and even the excellent Barcode/SY18 nightclubs.
Re-0pen Llanidloes!!
My heart bleeds when i see stories like this.I was in Helsinki last yr and on the main street,a Laura Ashley shop,i,m a Manc but lived MID Wales 40 yrs and i thought what a fantastic sight t see.Then y see how as Wales helped businesses like this.The rd infrasructure is the same as 40 yrs ago though traffic increased 10 fold,I have travelled as a lorry driver last 6 yrs and y see all the empty Industrial Estates near to Motorways and y wonder if industry has a necessary future t sustain the economy.