Uncertainty for two travel agent branches in Brighton and Hove

A travel agent chain with two stores in Brighton and Hove is to announce mass closures this week, it has been reported.

Thomas Cook is expected to announce the closure of 200 stores although it is not known whether the two in Brighton and Hove will be among them.

The North Street branch in Brighton and the Church Road branch in Hove are among more than a dozen in Sussex and 1,200 nationwide.

The company has already closed 75 branches since its merger with Co-operative Travel and two senior directors have left.

The company has issued three profit warnings this year and the value of its shares has slumped.

The Sunday Times today said that Thomas Cook recently agreed new banking facilities and is looking to sell assets to shore up its financial position.

Thomas Cook is the second biggest tour operator in Europe and Britain’s biggest high street travel agent. But, like bookshops and music retailers, travel agents have suffered as a growing number of customers shop online.

Two other leading national retailers with a presence in Brighton and Hove are expected to add to concerns about business and consumer confidence this week.

Dixons, which also owns the PC World and Currys brands, is expected to report bigger losses on Thursday shortly after the entire Comet chain was sold for £2.

And Arcadia – owner of the BHS, Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Evans and Wallis brands – is also due to announce financial results. It is currently reducing the number of shops that it operates.

Enterprise Inns and Mitchells and Butlers pub groups will spell out their financial position on Tuesday.

Mitchells and Butlers owns more than a dozen outlets in the area including Browns in Duke Street, Brighton, the Grenadier in Hangleton, the Saltdean Tavern and Harvesters such as the Black Lion in London Road, Patcham.

Enterprise Inns was advertising eight pub leases for sale in Brighton and Hove on its website this weekend.

One commercial estate agent said this week that there was still a healthy demand for commercial premises in the heart of Brighton.

Some secondary shopping areas are feeling the pinch more, including London Road, and some parades in areas further out from the city centre have also suffered.