Latest news with #Pershore
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Companies targeted over illegal waste dumping in Worcestershire
Companies accused of dumping waste illegally have been targeted by the Environment Agency (EA).In a joint initiative with West Mercia Police, HM Revenue & Customs and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, the EA identified businesses responsible for unlawfully discarding waste in Pershore and Peopleton, in Worcestershire on a statement on social media platform X, the EA said those responsible had been identified and action had been taken."This sends a clear message to others thinking about doing it in the future - don't," the statement said. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Scottish Sun
22-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Major bargain retailer with 178 shops to shut five sites starting in days – is your local on the list?
Huge clearance sales have been launched at some of the stores due to close CLOSING TIME Major bargain retailer with 178 shops to shut five sites starting in days – is your local on the list? Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MAJOR bargain retailer is shutting five of its locations, including two in just days. The Original Factory Shop has been struggling in recent years and has said it will have to close some of its loss-making stores as part of a restructuring. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Five Original Factory Shop stores have been confirmed for closure in the coming weeks Credit: Alamy The next locations to shut for good are Pershore and Normanton - both on June 28. The Normanton store said in a Facebook post: "We as a store regret to inform you all that the store is closing down on the 28th june. "Live from today we have up to 30% off in store." This includes 30% off Christmas and pet items, and 10% off beauty, cleaning, electrical items and footwear. Everything else will be 20% off. Devastated shoppers responded: "Ooohhh noooo is something else coming ?" Others expressed their concern for the shop workers, with one saying: "I'm sorry to hear that girls. Hope you are all ok." Another added: "So sorry to hear this… In our thoughts from one team to another." The Pershore store also announced its closure in a Facebook post, saying: "We regret to inform you that the rumours are true The Original Factory Shop Pershore has served you for 30+ years, and will be closing its doors for the final time on June 28th." It advertised "massive closure reductions" but didn't give any further details. Beloved department store chain shutting more locations with clearance sales on now until final May 25 deadline Shoppers said they were "gutted" and it was "such a shame". One added: "Noooo! That's rubbish I literally always find what I need when I come in." The three other stores set to close are Peterhead, Staveley and Milford Haven. Peterhead is due to close in June, although no exact date has been given. The location has been listed for rent and staff have confirmed its upcoming closure. Staveley will shut for good on July 12. It said in a Facebook post that it was closing "with a heavy heart" after 20 years. It's unclear exactly when Milford Haven will close but it has launched a 30% off sale. Meanwhile the Original Factory Shop store in Nairn, Scotland, has been listed as up for sale. The retail unit is already listed for sale on the TSA Property Consultants website, suggesting it is likely to close soon. The Sun has contacted The Original Factory Shop for comment. The Original Factory Shop's owner, Modella Capital, had recently launched a restructuring effort to renegotiate rents at 88 of its stores. A spokesperson told The Press and Journal: "The Original Factory Shop (TOFS) recently confirmed that as part of a restructuring a number of its loss-making stores will have to close. "Closing stores is always a tough decision and we are committed to keeping as many stores open as possible. "This is, however, dependent on successful negotiations with landlords as we strive to build a sustainable and successful business for the future." Bargain chains have had mixed success during the cost of living crisis. While stores like B&M and Home Bargains appear to have profited, The Original Factory Shop and Poundland have taken a hit. The Original Factory Shop was sold to private equity firm Modella Capital, which also owns Hobbycraft, in February. At the end of April it drew up plans to initiate a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). Companies often use CVAs to prevent insolvency, which could otherwise result in store closures or the collapse of the entire business. They allow firms to explore different strategies such as negotiating reduced rent rates with landlords. As we've mentioned, for The Original Factory Shop this has involved trying to renegotiate rents at 88 of its 178 stores. But landlords don't have to agree to reduced rents and this can result in stores closing. The Original Factory shop has already shuttered more than a dozen stores over the past 12 months.
The Sun
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Major bargain retailer with 178 shops to shut five sites starting in days – is your local on the list?
A MAJOR bargain retailer is shutting five of its locations, including two in just days. The Original Factory Shop has been struggling in recent years and has said it will have to close some of its loss-making stores as part of a restructuring. 1 The next locations to shut for good are Pershore and Normanton - both on June 28. The Normanton store said in a Facebook post: "We as a store regret to inform you all that the store is closing down on the 28th june. "Live from today we have up to 30% off in store." This includes 30% off Christmas and pet items, and 10% off beauty, cleaning, electrical items and footwear. Everything else will be 20% off. Devastated shoppers responded: "Ooohhh noooo is something else coming ?" Others expressed their concern for the shop workers, with one saying: "I'm sorry to hear that girls. Hope you are all ok." Another added: "So sorry to hear this… In our thoughts from one team to another." The Pershore store also announced its closure in a Facebook post, saying: "We regret to inform you that the rumours are true The Original Factory Shop Pershore has served you for 30+ years, and will be closing its doors for the final time on June 28th." It advertised "massive closure reductions" but didn't give any further details. Beloved department store chain shutting more locations with clearance sales on now until final May 25 deadline Shoppers said they were "gutted" and it was "such a shame". One added: "Noooo! That's rubbish I literally always find what I need when I come in." The three other stores set to close are Peterhead, Staveley and Milford Haven. Peterhead is due to close in June, although no exact date has been given. The location has been listed for rent and staff have confirmed its upcoming closure. Staveley will shut for good on July 12. It said in a Facebook post that it was closing "with a heavy heart" after 20 years. It's unclear exactly when Milford Haven will close but it has launched a 30% off sale. Meanwhile the Original Factory Shop store in Nairn, Scotland, has been listed as up for sale. The retail unit is already listed for sale on the TSA Property Consultants website, suggesting it is likely to close soon. The Sun has contacted The Original Factory Shop for comment. The Original Factory Shop's owner, Modella Capital, had recently launched a restructuring effort to renegotiate rents at 88 of its stores. A spokesperson told The Press and Journal: "The Original Factory Shop (TOFS) recently confirmed that as part of a restructuring a number of its loss-making stores will have to close. "Closing stores is always a tough decision and we are committed to keeping as many stores open as possible. "This is, however, dependent on successful negotiations with landlords as we strive to build a sustainable and successful business for the future." Bargain chains have had mixed success during the cost of living crisis. While stores like B&M and Home Bargains appear to have profited, The Original Factory Shop and Poundland have taken a hit. The Original Factory Shop was sold to private equity firm Modella Capital, which also owns Hobbycraft, in February. At the end of April it drew up plans to initiate a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). Companies often use CVAs to prevent insolvency, which could otherwise result in store closures or the collapse of the entire business. They allow firms to explore different strategies such as negotiating reduced rent rates with landlords. As we've mentioned, for The Original Factory Shop this has involved trying to renegotiate rents at 88 of its 178 stores. But landlords don't have to agree to reduced rents and this can result in stores closing. The Original Factory shop has already shuttered more than a dozen stores over the past 12 months. 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.
BBC News
23-03-2025
- Science
- BBC News
The Cold War secrets behind a Somerset butterfly sanctuary
On a windswept hillside in the Mendip Hills, butterflies now drift between wildflowers at Westbury Beacon nature is a peaceful scene but around 60 years ago this remote site played a crucial role in Britain's Cold War the 1960s, as tensions with the Soviet Union grew, a handful of brave engineers and radar specialists spent their days here, testing missile guidance systems and refining radar between an ancient burial mound and a rusting tin hut, the men stood on top of a nuclear fallout bunker, while aircraft skimmed them at terrifyingly low altitudes. 'Skilful job' Among them was engineer Brian Prewer, who remembers the risks involved in this top-secret job."You would never be allowed to do this under health and safety today," Mr Prewer said. "When you're asking a pilot to miss you by 10 feet (3.048m), it's a very skilful job. I often wondered how they never crashed into us - but they never did."The site's location on the lip of a south-facing escarpment in the middle of Somerset was carefully chosen. Its open approach meant Canberra bombers, flying from RAF Pershore in Worcestershire, could fly very low without crossing built-up areas, making it the ideal place to test radar with full-size targets. A mobile radar system was positioned on the Bronze Age burial mound so signals could bounce off the incoming data recorded here was sent back to the Ministry of Defence, helping to improve missile targeting systems. "It was cheaper to fly a big radar on top of a plane than to stick a tiny one in a missile and hope for the best," Mr Prewer explained. "So we were out there, tracking aircraft, making sure our radar could lock onto them properly. "The goal was to be absolutely certain that if an enemy plane came at us, we could knock it out of the sky before it reached us."The work was highly classified, and even apprentices sent to assist Mr Prewer and his colleagues were kept in the dark about what they were doing there."We told them we were tracking moth migration," Mr Prewer said. "We even made a little sign and put it up by the tin hut. It did the trick." Panicked livestock For five years the team worked in isolation, refining the technology that would shape Britain's air defences. Getting the data needed was a delicate balance of precision and nerve and Mr Prewer was in constant communication with the pilots. "I had to tell them if they were off course - too far left, too far right, too high, too low," Mr Prewer explained. "If they were 30 feet away from us, that was too far and they had to go around again. And we had to make sure the data recorders were running. "Nothing was automated like it would be today. You had to be there, working, making sure it all happened."The deafening roar of the aircraft startled nearby livestock, sending cattle into panicked stampedes. "The farmers were not happy," Mr Prewer recalls. "There was apparently a special budget to compensate them for any cattle that had bolted or worse." Nuclear blast detection Three Royal Observer Corps personnel, trained to detect and measure the impact of nuclear detonations, accompanied the radar team at the site. They were housed in a small nuclear fallout bunker, designed to gather data in an attack."When a nuclear explosion goes off, whether it's a ground burst or an air burst, it produces an enormous flash of light," Mr Prewer explains. "The bunker was there to protect the men inside while they measured radiation levels and used photo-sensitive paper to determine the direction of the blast. "By triangulating with other similar bunkers, they could pinpoint the location of an explosion anywhere in the country." 'Not just a job' The radar research contributed to advances in missile guidance and early warning systems, technology that has played a key role in Britain's defence strategy."The idea was that if the Russians were flying at us, doing what they're doing in Ukraine now quite frankly, we needed to be able to knock them out of the sky before they got here," Mr Prewer said. "That's exactly what's happening today. We were trying to make absolutely sure that when you aimed a missile at an attacking aircraft, it would actually hit."Now in his eighties, Mr Prewer looks back on those years with pride."It was not just a job - I really enjoyed being there," he said."It was a thundering good job. A bit like the people working at Bletchley Park on Enigma. We were doing something important, something that mattered."Today, the radar dishes are gone, the bombers no longer thunder overhead, and the tin hut stands is now a sanctuary for over 30 species of butterflies including Chalk-hill Blue, Wall Brown, Dingy Skipper and Grizzled Skipper, continuing to hide the site's secretive past.
