Gamleys Toy's to close Bexhill store

The closure, due to take place sometime in late June or early July, rapidly follows the closure of a number of their other stores - including Littlehampton, Hove and Hastings, which closed on 6th May.

Up until recently Gamleys had a total of seventeen stores in the South of England - in addition to Bexhill, Hastings and Eastbourne, there were stores in Kent, Surrey and West Sussex.

The company, one of the biggest and longest established in the country, have been trading in the South of England for the past 80 years with their Bexhill store open for forty seven.

Assistant store manager, Peter Elliot aged 55, has worked at the Bexhill shop for the past four and a half years and is now faced with the prospect of being made redundant for the fourth time in his career.

He is currently job hunting but said the prospects so far haven't been favourable and, as his past and present redundancies have all been from retail positions, has decided to steer clear of this area of employment in the future.

He said: " I no longer want to work in the retail sector, because every time I've gone into a retail position the company has either closed or moved. I recently applied for another job but didn't get it - too many people applied for it."

Along with Peter, four other members of staff are also being made redundant including store manager Ian Fuller and sales assistant Gillian Akehurst, 54.

Gillian has worked at the shop for eleven years and said: "It's sad for the town that another independent shop is closing. We've had a lot of nostalgic comments from customers who have shopped here over the years."

Bexhill resident Rowena Robinson has been a regular shopper at Gamleys and said she thought it was' "shocking" that the store had to close as this will mean that there are now no toy shops at all in the immediate vicinity.

Rowena, who has two children aged five and two, said: "I've bought all my children's presents from here. My youngest child, Kara, always has a lovely time when we come here, she gets to play with toys while I look around. It's a shock to hear that they are closing, it's been very handy for me as I don't drive and I suppose the nearest town for a toy shop now will be Eastbourne, which apart from anything else means I'll incur travel expenses."

The reason for the closures, and the future of the remaining stores, remains uncertain as Financial Director Charles Bradford said the company have yet to make final decisions on the closure of any more of their stores.

He said: " Although I confirm that we will close the Bexhill store and some others too, we are currently in negotiations with an interested party for the business and I can't risk giving any further information as it is a sensitive time for us and it might prejudice those negotiations.

While we carry out the review process things are subject to change and are not absolute. We are keeping the staff under consultation while we carry out the review process. As a result I am unable to comment on anything at the moment."