A high street store has announced around 1,500 jobs are under threat in the UK as part of restructuring in the wake of the pandemic.

WH Smith Group CEO, Carl Cowling, said: “Covid-19 continues to have a significant impact on the WH Smith Group. Throughout the pandemic, we have responded quickly and taken decisive actions to protect the business including substantially strengthening our financial position. We have also welcomed support from Government where available.

“In our travel business, while we are beginning to see early signs of recovery in some of our

markets, the speed of recovery continues to be slow.

"At the same time, while there has been some progress in our High Street business, it does continue to be adversely affected by low levels of footfall.

"As a result, we now need to take further action to reduce costs across our businesses. I regret that this will have an impact on a significant number of colleagues whose roles will be affected by these necessary actions, and we will do everything we can to support them at this challenging time.

“While we are mindful of the continuing uncertainties that exist, we are a resilient and versatile business. The operational actions we are taking along with the financing arrangements that are in place, put us in a strong position to navigate this time of uncertainty and we are well positioned to benefit in due course from the recovery of our key markets.”

It is not known at this stage if any jobs in the county are under threat.

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