Long-running department store holds ‘Rachel Reeves closing down sale’ over Labour tax hikes

One of Britain's oldest department stores is closing its last outlet and has blamed the chancellor's tax rises for making the business “unviable”.

Beales, which has been trading since 1881, is closing its store in Poole, Dorset at the end of the month and is holding a “Rachel Reeves closing down sale”.

The front of the store is plastered in posters printed with a photo of Ms Reeve’s and the tagline: “Rachel Reeves’ closing down sale, up to 80 per cent off, everything must go”.

Tony Brown, the chief executive of Beales, told The Independent that the posters are an “absolute dig that the budget” and blames the tax rises in last October’s Budget for bringing an end to the family business.

Mr Brown said the increases in National Insurance costs and the minimum wage combined with the reduction in rates relief cost the business £200,000 and made it “unviable”.

Business rates, collected from businesses operating out of physical properties, were previously discounted during the pandemic – but a 75 per cent relief fell to 40 per cent in April.

Mr Brown claimed that the “fiscal strategy” could cause many other businesses to close, leaving only “cafes and vape shops” on the high-street.

“There are many other businesses out there, both in retail and hospitality that are in the same position,” he said.

“Over the past eight to ten years all the big brands have pulled out of the high street, either because they have gone bust or they have become untenable.

“In my view the budget was the straw that broke the camel's back.”

He added: “There are risks and uncertainties about what the government is going to do next. I personally have no confidence that they won’t further increase tax.”

Beales has been running for more than 140 years. It was originally founded in Bournemouth and grew to have branches across the country.

But like many other stores on the high-street it has been hit by increasingly high rents, business rates and competition from online.

The business went into administration in January 2020 and since its 22 branches have closed.

The Poole department store, which employs 30 people, is the last one to close.

Mr Brown claimed his posters have received a “thumbs up” from other people in the retail industry.

“There has been positive commentary because an awful lot of people in other jobs are also affected by this. They've either had their hours cut or they've had overtime reduced or they've had recruitment freezes in their businesses,” he said.

A government spokesperson said that while it was a commercial decision for Beales, “we understand this is a concerning time for workers and their families.”

“After the previous government left a £22bn black hole, we delivered a once-in-a-parliament budget to fix the public finances and rebuild the NHS, with two million additional appointments and waiting lists falling five months in a row,” the spokesperson said.

“We are going further and faster to support businesses – through overhauling our planning system, bringing forward our own Industrial Strategy and cutting excess red tape. Through our Plan for Change we’re delivering security and putting more money in people’s pockets.”

The British Retail Consortium said that more than a quarter of a million jobs have been lost over the last five years.

The business group added that the latest increase to cost of employing people, coupled with additional burdens that could be imposed by the implementation of the government’s Employment Rights Bill, put thousands more jobs at risk.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive at the British Retail Consortium, said: “Rising national insurance, increased national living wage, and a raft of new taxes and regulations, including the £2bn packaging tax in October, could sound the death knell for many shops and jobs around the UK.

“The closure of Beales is not the first, and will not be the last retailer crushed under the weight of the £7bn in additional costs on retail confirmed in last October’s Budget. Other retailers are pulling back on local investment in new shops, reducing hiring plans or announcing job cuts. “