Start of Wilko closures in West Yorkshire

Wilko's in Morley and in Wakefield close today

Wilko, Morley
Author: Katie LyonsPublished 12th Sep 2023

It's the end of an era for two of the Wilko shops in West Yorkshire, as the Morley and Wakefield store close today (Tuesday 12 September).

It's after deals in the past couple of weeks have failed, with the GMB Union saying all of Wilko's 400 stores are set to close by early October.

It means redundancies now look likely for all 12,500 staff at the high-street chain.

The union said on Monday that Wilko's warehouses in Worksop and Newport are now both due to close on Friday September 15.

The Morley store is one of 52 closing this week. One shopper told us: "We used to say years ago, what would we do without Wilko's".

While another said: "It's very sad that it's closing".

And other said: "We come here a lot, and just don't know why it's going because it's a busy place".

GMB said the failure to secure a deal meant that remaining offers on the table are only likely to purchase a number of Wilko store properties, and are not expected to include workers.

PwC, who are overseeing the administration, has already agreed a roughly £13 million deal to sell up to 51 Wilko stores to rival B&M.

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