Beales launches ‘Rachel Reeves closing down sale’ as it shutters final store

Beales is holding a ‘Rachel Reeves closing down sale’ as it winds down the business after more than 140 years.

The department store chain, which first opened in Bournemouth in 1881, is closing its remaining shop in Poole’s Dolphin Centre at the end of May.

Chief executive Tony Brown told The Telegraph that the increases to employers’ National Insurance contributions and minimum wage announced in Labour’s first fiscal Budget last year meant the business had become “unviable”.

He said the “punitive” tax changes had cost the firm £200,000.

As the retailer prepares to close its final store, Brown has printed posters featuring Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ photo with the tagline: “Rachel Reeves’ closing down sale, up to 80%, everything must go”.

He said the posters were intended as a “poke in the ribs” on behalf of the retail industry.

Brown warned that more businesses were at risk of closure if Reeves continued her “fiscal strategy” and the high streets would consist only of “cafes and vape shops” within five years.

He claimed the Government had been “manipulative” with its manifesto commitment of “not to increases taxes on working people”.

Brown said: “I consider myself a working person – people who run businesses are working people. It was manipulative of the Government to give the impression that all the increases in costs to businesses would not impact working people.”

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