The last branch of a 144-year-old department store that was once a staple of British high streets is preparing to close its doors – with a brutal dig at Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Beales fell into administration in January 2020 and closed 22 of its 23 UK branches in the same year.
Its one remaining store in the seaside town of Poole, Dorset, kept the once-iconic brand chugging along – until Labour’s tax hikes put the famous retailer in an untenable position. Chief executive Tony Brown confirmed that the branch, in Poole’s Dolphin Shopping Centre, would close at the end of May – and launched a tongue-in-cheek “Rachel Reeves closing-down sale” to mark the occasion.
The retailer’s Facebook page said the sale would include discounts of up to 80% and cheekily added: “Thanks for the help, Chancellor.” Mr Brown has also had posters of the Chancellor printed out, which he said was a “poke in the ribs” for the Government on behalf of the whole industry.
The Poole store was the last Beales branch left open (Image: Getty)
Ms Reeves announced an increase in employers’ National Insurance from 13.8% to 15% in her autumn Budget, which was widely criticised by industry figures when it came into effect in April. The threshold for paying the contributions was also lowered from £9,100 to £5,000.
A 6.7% increase in the National Minimum Wage also hit firms. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned the increase could cost businesses an extra £5billion over the coming year.
Beales will now become one of over 203,000 UK businesses to have closed their doors since Labour took office, a staggering statistic released last month.
Mr Brown said the tax changes had made the business “unviable” and warned that if the Chancellor continues her “fiscal strategy”, many more firms would be forced to close – leaving British high streets packed with “cafes and vape shops”.
“Ever since the punitive business taxes heaped on by the Chancellor, the two NI increases and the National Minimum wage increase and the reduction of the rates relief to 40% adding significantly to our costs, these punitive taxes have had the effect that the business has become unviable,” he said.
“This, coupled with the risks and uncertainty of further tax increases in the coming years, have left us no other option.”
Mr Brown also accused Labour of being “manipulative” and carefully wording its manifesto to enable it to increase taxes on working people.
“I consider myself a working person, people who run businesses are working people,” he said.
