PEACOCKS on Rayleigh High Street has been marked for closure, while the future of other south Essex stores remain in doubt.

Bosses remain tight lipped on when the store is set to close, although a closing down sale sign has been put up in the window.

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, the company behind Peacocks, filed a notice to appoint administrators in October, after admitting the pandemic had poorly affected sales.

And despite last month’s announcement that Peacocks stores will close up and down the UK, taking about 600 high street jobs with it, bosses were still unable to give clear answers as to which stores will remain open or will close when approached by the Echo.

After a string of closures along the high street, which have included ASK Italian, James Newport, councillor for Downhall and Rawreth, says he sadly wasn’t shocked to hear about the latest hit.

He said: “I’m now asking the question what other victims will there be?”

Downhall and Rawreth Councillor Chris Stanley, added: “This is yet another large business closing down on the high street.

“The businesses just aren’t getting the support they need and I worry about what it will be like after this lockdown when we haven’t even recovered since the recession in 2017.”

Mr Newport has now urged bosses to “step up” instead of “throwing businesses to the wolves” while they struggle to bounce back from the hit of the pandemic.

He said: “Huge events like the usual Christmas lights have been cancelled.. Now we’re in the second lockdown our stores are struggling even more, and the only thing that’s been done is the offer of free parking on Saturday’s through December – the same as every year. Not enough has been done.”

Ian Ward, Rochford Council’s portfolio holder for planning, said: “The council has distributed over £18.5million in Government grants to hundreds of businesses, and as we ease out of lockdown we will encourage shoppers back into our high streets as we welcome the return of the We Are Back Campaign. The council will also shortly be announcing a new series of business grants that it will be administering.”

Peacocks were contacted for comment but failed to respond by the time the Echo went to print.

UPDATE:

A spokesperson from the EWM team, said: "Due to the Covid-19 outbreak we have made the decision to close all of our stores and Head Office in line with government recommendations, this is to ensure we play our part in keeping our employees and communities as safe as possible."