Arcadia Leeds Burton site: 400 jobs to go

A former Burtons factory which is a distribution centre for the collapsed Arcadia fashion empire is to close with the loss of 400 jobs, a union says.

The Burton Business Park site in Leeds has been in operation since 1922, most recently distributing stock for stores including Dorothy Perkins and Burton.

Despite Boohoo's purchase of the Burton brand, the Leeds facility now looks set to close, the GMB Union said.

Arcadia administrators Deloitte confirmed the jobs "were at risk".

Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group fell into administration in November last year.

A consultation period at the Leeds site will begin on 24 February, ending on 30 April when it will shut its doors for good, according to the GMB union.

GMB official Jake O'Malley said: "A century of history and hundreds of good jobs down the pan, while Philip Green is living it up on his private yacht and the administrators pick the bones of the business clean.

"GMB will fight tooth and nail to make sure workers get what they deserve from this mess."

The site, on Hudson Road, just off Harehills Lane in Burmantofts, used to be home to the biggest clothing factory in the world and was part of Sir Montague Burton's menswear empire.

At its height, around 10,000 people worked on the site, producing over 30,000 suits a week. Burton was the biggest employer in Leeds.

Hudson Road was the heart of Montague Burton's empire. He chose Leeds because it was the centre of Britain's textile industry and so it had access to skilled tailors and machinists.

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