All the shops, pubs and banks closing this year from Paperchase to Wetherspoon
The high street has taken a massive hit in recent years, with scores of household names having disappeared forever.
In a grim prediction, another 15,000 stores are expected to close in 2023, alongside a further 128,000 job losses, according to the Centre for Retail Research.
From Wetherspoon to Paperchase high street banks including Barclays and HSBC, it has not been an easy start of the year for some companies in terms of closures.
Here, we round up all the shops, banks and pubs that will shut up stores forever this year.
Paperchase
Paperchase has collapsed into administration on January 31 (Getty Images)Card and stationery retailer Paperchase collapsed into administration last week, putting 820 jobs and 106 stores at risk.
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Tesco has purchased the Paperchase brand and intellectual property - although the buyout does not include the physical stores.
It means the collapse of the chain is likely to result stores closing and hundreds of jobs being lost.
Paperchase appointed insolvency firm Begbies Traynor as administrators, who said: "On January 31 2023 Mark Fry, Kirstie Provan and Gary Shankland, of Begbies Traynor, were appointed as Joint Administrators of Aspen Phoenix Newco Limited, which trades as Paperchase.
"Unfortunately, despite a comprehensive sales process, no viable offers were received for the Company, or its business and assets, on a going concern basis.
"However, this sale reflects the interest in the well-known and established brand and will enable the brand to continue in Tesco stores across the UK."
Thirty five Wetherspoons pubs up for sale are in city centres across England and Scotland (Getty Images)Wetherspoon
Wetherspoon announced that it is selling 35 pubs across the UK, having already sold off 11 boozers.
Chairman Tim Martin said that a decision was made to sell off the pubs due to rising food and energy costs and lack of staff.
The 35 pubs up for sale are in city centres across England and Scotland, as all the venues are being considered for sale individually, in small packages, or as a portfolio.
However, while the pubs are on the market, the good news for punters is that they will remain open and continue to trade as Wetherspoon sites until they are sold.
For the full list of pubs being open, click here.
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The pub giant behind Slug and Lettuce and Be At One has revealed its plans to 'sell off a 1,000 of its pubs’ (Andrew Teebay/Liverpool Echo)Stonegate
Stonegate, which is behind brands such as Slug and Lettuce and Be At One, is reportedly set to sell off 1,000 of its pubs.
The pub giant is said to be looking to scale back after acquiring a whopping £2.6 billion debt pile, according to Bloomberg.
The company has said they are "not making any comment on the story" but its chairman Ian Payne admitted their "biggest concern" right now is the cost of energy.
He said in an interview: “The biggest concern is energy.
“We know what we’re going to pay in February and March, but we still don’t know what we’re going to pay beyond that.”
The fashion retailer has already closed two of its branches in Burton and Maidenhead (Getty Images)H&M
M&S is closing a further two UK shops in Hartlepool and the Isle of Wight.
This comes following the closures of two of its branches in Burton and Maidenhead.
The high-street fashion retailer has blamed a "rapid change in customer behaviour", for its closures.
Despite this, it has not confirmed whether any more stores have been earmarked for closure too.
The full H&M statement reads: "During the last few years, we have seen a rapid change in customer behaviour that we cannot ignore.
"We continuously need to evaluate and develop our business to meet our customer’s needs and offer the best possible shopping experience, whether it’s online or in our physical stores.
"Our ambition is to continue investing in our customers, open new stores where we see opportunities and develop our digital channels.
"We continuously evaluate how we should invest in stores and sometimes decisions must be made to enable long-term growth. This means that we sometimes need to close stores."
Banks have been disappearing as more people use online services to manage their money (Bloomberg via Getty Images)Banks
Banks have been disappearing from the high street as as more people use online services to manage their money.
In one of the latest announcements, HSBC confirmed it would shut 114 banks - around a quarter of its total sites - in 2023.
Meanwhile, NatWest has said that it has scheduled 66 banks across the UK to shut their doors forever, with 16 having closed already this month.
And Lloyds is closing a further 36 banks in total this year, which includes 13 that shut in January.
Barclays will shut 41 sites in 2023, while Halifax will do the same for 23 branches in total.
Santander will close five banks, Nationwide will close two and TSB has just announced it will shut nine sites.
For the full list of banks closing, click here.
Argos employs roughly 580 staff members (Getty Images)Argos
Argos in January announced plans that it will be closing all of its stores in the Republic of Ireland by the end of June this year.
The retailer has 34 stores across Ireland and employs roughly 580 staff members.
It is worth noting that the stores in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales are set to be unaffected by the announcement.
Argos said it arrived at the decision to leave Ireland following a long period of "careful consideration" and a "thorough review" of its business and operations in the country.
Andy McClelland, Operations Manager at Argos Ireland said: “We understand this is difficult news for our customers and colleagues. As with any major change to our business, we have not made this decision lightly and we are doing everything we can to support those impacted.
"On behalf of everyone at Argos, I would like to thank our colleagues, customers, suppliers and partners for their support to our business.”
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