Latest news with #Pembrokeshire
The Sun
5 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Full list of 14 shops set to close next month in a blow to shoppers – is your area affected?
MAJOR retailers will close several stores for good this month as the high street continues to face difficulties. This year businesses have faced increased costs due to Government changes announced in the Budget. An increase in employer National Insurance contributions, energy and rent costs and lower customer footfall have all piled on pressure. As a result, some retailers have been forced to hike prices, review expansion plans and reduce the number of stores they have. But remember, retailers regularly close shops for a number of reasons, not just because they are struggling. For example, they may have a nearby store that is performing better or may want to move to a location that will have a higher footfall, such as a retail park. Here is a full list of the shops we know are shutting in June 2025. The Original Factory Shop The discount high street chain is set to close nine shops next month as it prepares to shutter a total of ten branches in the coming weeks. The Original Factory Shop previously warned it would have to shut some 'loss-making' locations after it began to struggle in recent years. The retailer is now set to close the following shops this month: Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire - June 26 Perth - June 28 Chester Le Street, County Durham - June 28 Arbroath, Angus - June 28 Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire - June 28 Pershore, Worcestershire - June 28 Normanton, West Yorkshire - June 28 Peterhead, Aberdeenshire - June 28 Shaftesbury, Dorset - June 28 It will also close a store in Staveley, Cumbria on July 12. Private equity firm Modella bought The Original Factory Shop back in February and has since launched a restructuring effort to renegotiate rents at 88 The Original Factory Shop stores. Modella also recently bought Hobbycraft and WHSmith's high street shops. Poundland Poundland is set to close a store this week as a further 200 shops remain at risk. The bargain retailer is set to close its branch in Surrey Quays, London, on June 11. Why are retailers closing shops? EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre's decline. The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors. In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping. Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed. The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing. Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns. Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead. In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko to name a few. What's increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online. They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. Bidding for the business started last month. Gordon Brothers, the ex-owner of Laura Ashley, and Homebase owner Hilco are reported to be in a two way race to win the chain. A decision on who the preferred bidder is could be announced in the coming days. Polish retail giant Pepco said it expects the sale of Poundland to be completed by September. Daniel of Ealing The iconic department store will close its doors for good in June after 120 years on the high street. The retailer has launched a huge clearance sale, with up to 50% off beds, furniture, homeware and fashion. Its final day of trading will be June 8. Rising costs and a struggling high street have forced the family-run business to call time on the store. The business was founded in 1901 by Walter James Daniel and began as a small draper's shop in Ealing, London. The Windsor flagship shop will remain open, alongside its online business. The firm said five Daniel employees will be impacted by the closure. The Works The Works is set to close its Margate High Street store on June 8. Its next nearest store will be at the Westwood Cross Shopping Centre or Ramsgate Garden Centre. A spokesperson for The Works said: 'As part of ongoing plans to optimise our store portfolio, we will be closing our Margate store. 'We have loved being part of the local community and apologise for any inconvenience caused by this closure. 'Customers can continue to shop with us at our nearby stores at Westwood Cross Shopping Centre and Ramsgate Garden Centre.' The chain has already closed five other branches this year. These closures are part of the normal process of closing under performing sites. Iceland The supermarket chain will close its store in College Square, Margate, on June 21. Iceland has not yet confirmed the reason for the sudden closure but it said that staff at the Margate branch will be offered jobs within the business. Iceland is completing a broader reshuffle of its operations as it adapts to shifting consumer habits, cost pressures and the growing demand for convenience and online shopping. Ginger The much loved clothing shop will close its doors for good this month after nearly 50 years in business. Ginger will shut for good on June 7, after the owners said they were forced to make an 'incredibly difficult decision'. The shop was founded by David and Rodger Kingsley in 1978 following the success of their sister company Jonathan Trumbull in 1971. The store manager blamed the current economic climate and the aftermath of Covid-19 for the business's hardship. The shop has launched a closing down sale as it prepares to close.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Marguerite Weyer, air mechanic with the WRNS who worked on the Seafire and Bristol Beaufighter
Marguerite Weyer, who has died aged 96, was a Wren air mechanic who helped keep the Fleet Air Arm flying from remote coastal stations in the postwar years. Many young women who volunteered for the Women's Royal Naval Service towards the end of the Second World War and afterwards were assigned as air mechanics, specialising in engines, airframes, electrical or ordnance. Marguerite Warden (as she was before marriage) was an art student in Hull in 1946 when she spent an 18th-birthday present of £5 from her father on a train ticket to Newcastle, where she signed on at a naval recruiting office – and told her parents afterwards. Trained to service the Merlin (and later Griffon) engine of the Supermarine Seafire – an adaptation of the Spitfire fighter for use on aircraft carriers – she was posted first to RNAS Dale, also known as HMS Goldcrest, facing the Celtic Sea on the Pembrokeshire coast. Self-made entertainment on the base included amateur dramatics, with productions of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit and Hay Fever; as their leading man, the Wrens co-opted 'a pink-faced schoolie [education officer] fresh from Cambridge' with theatrical connections – the young David Attenborough on National Service. After her eyesight faded in old age, Marguerite invariably greeted television's most unmistakable voice with: 'Ah, my old friend David…' In her four years as an air mechanic she also worked on the heavier Bristol Beaufighter, occasionally taxied aircraft between apron and hangar, and was promoted to Leading Wren. At HMS Nuthatch, a 'receipt and dispatch unit' which prepared new aircraft for operational use at Anthorn on the Solway Firth, and at Evanton (HMS Fieldfare) on the Cromarty Firth, winter was harsh and quarters were spartan; a bout of pneumonia and pleurisy in early 1949 gave Marguerite welcome respite in a warm sickbay. She left to marry the following year but the camaraderie of service remained a vivid memory, and her gang of Wren friends, of whom she was the last survivor, were in touch for the rest of their lives. Marguerite Warden was born on June 19 1928 at Hornsea on Yorkshire's east coast and was brought up in Bridlington. She was the fourth child of Laurence Warden, an insurance manager in Hull and a noted watercolour painter, and his wife Daisy, née Jobson, whose antecedents were Danish. When German bombs began falling on Bridlington, Marguerite spent an idyllic summer of 1940 evacuated to Kirkbymoorside in the North Riding with her mother and sister, their father joining at weekends for painting expeditions on the North York Moors. She returned to complete her school certificate at Bridlington High School for Girls, and towards the end of the war she was allowed to join Saturday dances at the Spa Ballroom, with servicemen billeted around the town. She recalled the heel-clicking gallantry of a Polish cadet called Zbicek and the frisson of teenage romance with William Franklyn, a Parachute Regiment soldier later famous as the velvet-voiced actor of the 1970s Schweppes tonic water adverts ('Schhh… you know who'). A promising artist, she enrolled in 1945 at Hull College of Arts and Crafts but found its old-fashioned focus on still-life drawing too staid; she would have preferred the more avant-garde Leeds school, but her mother would not let her go into lodgings. Instead Marguerite opted for the adventure of the Wrens until her marriage in 1950 to Deryk Vander Weyer – a Bridlington neighbour, wartime Green Howards officer, and at that time a junior bank official. When he asked for her hand in the traditional way, her father was sufficiently impressed to remark that 'this young man could be a branch manager one day.' In fact Deryk rose to be deputy chairman of Barclays and British Telecom and a director of the Bank of England. Their 40-year marriage involved 10 house moves and, in later years, a full diary of receptions, City banquets and global travel. Marguerite rose with style to every occasion, but was always happiest amid friends, flowers and dogs, and absorbed in her love of art history. Deryk Vander Weyer died in 1990. In a widowhood of almost 35 years, Marguerite made a new life as an elegant grand dame of the town of Helmsley in North Yorkshire, where she made a lovely memorial garden (within the public Helmsley Walled Garden) for their daughter Linda, an artist and teacher who died in 2006. She is survived by their son, the Spectator columnist Martin Vander Weyer. Marguerite Weyer, born June 19 1928, died May 12 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Unsung British comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island is a modern day Local Hero, writes BRIAN VINER
The Ballad Of Wallis Island (12A, 139 mins) Verdict: Hilarious and poignant A pair of films open in cinemas today, each as British as a cream tea and both set way out west, yet strikingly different in tone. One is a hoot and the other anything but. The former is The Ballad Of Wallis Island. Written by and starring Tim Key and Tom Basden, it wrings laughs galore from the fundamentally sad story of Charles (Key), who lives alone and lonely in a rambling house on an island off the Pembrokeshire coast, with only occasional social interaction at the local shop, run by single mum Amanda (Sian Clifford). But Charles does have plenty of money, enough of it to pay a somewhat brittle, moderately well-known singer-songwriter called Herb McGwyer (Basden) to travel out to the island to perform a private gig. Charles claims they've met once before, long ago at the Colchester Corn Exchange, when Herb and his then-girlfriend Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) were a duo known as McGwyer Mortimer – 'the best-selling folk-rock artists of 2014', no less. What Herb doesn't know is that Charles has also invited Nell to the island. He is willing to fork out £800,000 in cash for the pair to re-form for one night only, without knowing that they are both bringing a heap of emotional baggage from their broken relationship. To complicate matters further, Nell is coming with her husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen). Herb hasn't seen her for nine years. He didn't even know she was married. The story begins with Herb arriving by boat and an over-excited Charles wading out to meet him. Gauche, over-eager and exasperating, with a nervy compulsion for puns and word-play, Charles is a character in the great British tradition of Alan Partridge and David Brent, only more lovable and vulnerable. 'He's sort of sweet in a way,' Herb tells his agent over the phone, while also using a football expression to complain that Charles won't leave him alone. 'He's everywhere. It's like he's man-marking me.' Charles has two framed lottery tickets on his wall. Herb had assumed that he must have made his riches from finance or oil but in fact he was a male nurse who miraculously scooped the jackpot twice. Having used it all up first time round travelling the world with the love of his life, Marie, he then went and won it again. Alas, he no longer has Marie to share his fortune with, although for reasons that eventually unfold she still looms large in the narrative. Splendidly directed by James Griffiths, with glorious panoramic shots that will thrill the people at Visit Pembrokeshire, the film is based on a 2007 BAFTA-nominated short called The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island. That too was directed by Griffiths, and written by Key and Basden. To dip into Charles's beloved word-play, if this longer version has an off-key note it lies in the character of Michael, whom the plot, a little unconvincingly, contrives to get out of the way once he and Nell have arrived. But it scarcely matters, and anyway it does its job, allowing the focus to fall on Herb and Nell as historical resentments pepper their search for old harmonies. Mulligan, as usual, is note-perfect and Basden, who did a cracking job of writing the film's original songs, is excellent too. But Key's is the performance to cherish: drama schools could use it as the embodiment of pathos. I loved pretty much every minute of this enormously engaging picture, which reminded me in some ways of Bill Forsyth's 1983 charmer Local Hero. Surprisingly, given its quintessential Britishness – and dialogue that references Monster Munch, Alton Towers, Harold Shipman, Ken Dodd and Red Leicester cheese – it has already been a modest hit in the US, following its premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival. But maybe that's not so surprising, given its universal themes of love, loneliness, friendship, and, indeed, money. The Salt Path (12A, 115 mins) Verdict: A bit of a slog The Salt Path is about money, too, but in this case the almost total lack of it. The film is based on a best-selling memoir by Raynor Winn (Gillian Anderson), which recorded the tribulations she and her husband Moth (Jason Isaacs) suffered after losing their family home, a disaster compounded by the diagnosis in Moth of a rare degenerative disease. Homeless and penniless, yet undaunted by his health problems, the Winns decide to do something positive, so they take a tent and walk the mighty South West Coast Path through Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. The film chronicles their highs and lows along the way, and it's moving stuff, but the journey is too often a slog for us as well as for them, and I wonder if feature-film debutante Marianne Elliott, whose many credits are all in the theatre, was the right choice of director? The coastal scenery is spectacular on the eye, while Isaacs and especially Anderson are both superb (if perhaps a little too handsome and well-groomed to wholly convince as a couple on their uppers). But the story could have been kept a lot more taut as the Winns encounter not just the kindness, but also the complacency, hostility and oddness of strangers.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Carey Mulligan ‘checked by medic' during freezing Welsh summer filming
A medic was called on-set to assess if British actress Carey Mulligan and the cast were not getting too cold while they filmed a movie in coastal Wales during the summer, the director has said. In the upcoming comedy drama, The Ballad Of Wallis Island, Mulligan – who is married to singer Marcus Mumford – plays one half of a disbanded folk band opposite Plebs star Tom Basden as her ex-boyfriend. The movie, which has had critical acclaim in the US, sees a fan and lottery winner – portrayed by comedian Tim Key – pay for them to reunite and perform a gig on an island, called Wallis. At the gala screening at the Ham Yard Hotel, London, on Wednesday, director James Griffiths told the PA news agency: 'Tom especially was going blue through most of the takes. 'I think there was a medic going in, and you too, right (Carey)? We had a medic sort of checking your temperature for the cold stuff. It was freezing.' When asked if it was filmed during the summer, Oscar-nominated actress Mulligan said 'it's Wales'. Basden said the rural location, believed to be in and around Pembrokeshire, was 'beautiful and it was unpredictable, weather wise, and it was challenging'. Key said: 'We shot the short film (version) 18 years ago, and we're kind of very eager to get back to Wales. Feels like it's a big part of the film. Weirdly.' Mulligan, 40, also recalled that the filming over a few weeks felt like a 'summer camp together'. London-born Mulligan, whose mother is originally from Llandeilo, Wales, also said: 'I had such a little baby when we were filming, it's just attached to all these, like, gorgeous memories of my baby being little. 'And you guys were all around, and everyone was cuddling her, and we were all sort of together for a bit. So it's very precious to me.' The original short film, The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, was nominated for a 2008 Bafta short film prize, and saw Key and Basden in the main roles. Mulligan has been nominated three times for a best actress Oscar, for projects including coming-of-age hit An Education, revenge thriller Promising Young Woman, and biopic Maestro. In April 2012, Mulligan married Mumford – lead singer of Mumford & Sons – and the couple now have three children. She has previously appeared on soundtracks released for movies she has been in, including Maestro, Inside Llewyn Davis, about a fictional folk singer, and period drama Far From The Madding Crowd. The Ballad Of Wallis Island will come to UK cinemas on Friday.
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- Climate
- BreakingNews.ie
Carey Mulligan ‘checked by medic' during freezing Welsh summer filming
A medic was called on-set to assess if British actress Carey Mulligan and the cast were not getting too cold while they filmed a movie in coastal Wales during the summer, the director has said. In the upcoming comedy drama, The Ballad Of Wallis Island, Mulligan – who is married to singer Marcus Mumford – plays one half of a disbanded folk band opposite Plebs star Tom Basden as her ex-boyfriend. Advertisement The movie, which has had critical acclaim in the US, sees a fan and lottery winner – portrayed by comedian Tim Key – pay for them to reunite and perform a gig on an island, called Wallis. Tim Key, Carey Mulligan and Tom Basden who star in the upcoming movie. (Yui Mok/PA) At the gala screening at the Ham Yard Hotel, London, on Wednesday, director James Griffiths told the PA news agency: 'Tom especially was going blue through most of the takes. 'I think there was a medic going in, and you too, right (Carey)? We had a medic sort of checking your temperature for the cold stuff. It was freezing.' When asked if it was filmed during the summer, Oscar-nominated actress Mulligan said 'it's Wales'. Advertisement Basden said the rural location, believed to be in and around Pembrokeshire, was 'beautiful and it was unpredictable, weather wise, and it was challenging'. Key said: 'We shot the short film (version) 18 years ago, and we're kind of very eager to get back to Wales. Feels like it's a big part of the film. Weirdly.' Mulligan, 40, also recalled that the filming over a few weeks felt like a 'summer camp together'. James Griffiths, Tim Key, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan. (Yui Mok/PA) London-born Mulligan, whose mother is originally from Llandeilo, Wales, also said: 'I had such a little baby when we were filming, it's just attached to all these, like, gorgeous memories of my baby being little. Advertisement 'And you guys were all around, and everyone was cuddling her, and we were all sort of together for a bit. So it's very precious to me.' The original short film, The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, was nominated for a 2008 Bafta short film prize, and saw Key and Basden in the main roles. Mulligan has been nominated three times for a best actress Oscar, for projects including coming-of-age hit An Education, revenge thriller Promising Young Woman, and biopic Maestro. In April 2012, Mulligan married Mumford – lead singer of Mumford & Sons – and the couple now have three children. Advertisement She has previously appeared on soundtracks released for movies she has been in, including Maestro, Inside Llewyn Davis, about a fictional folk singer, and period drama Far From The Madding Crowd. The Ballad Of Wallis Island will come to Irish cinemas on Friday.
