Tropical temperatures set to cool in Northampton sports shop after unbearably hot summer

Several customers have contacted the Chron to complain about the temperature of the Sports Direct store in Abington Street throughout August and September.

One shopper there, who wished yo be known only as Aaron, described his visit to the underground shop as “unbearable” - likening it to walking off the plane in a tropical country.

Shoppers in Northampton sent tweets to the Sports Direct head office on August 1, asking the firm to get the air conditioning unit fixed, but received no reply.

The faulty equipment appeared to be kicking out hot air as temperatures outside reached 30 degrees at the start of September and enquiries were put into the under-fire firm by the Chronicle & Echo to ask when engineers would be sent out.

The Chron has received no reply - though an automated message from Sports Direct’s marketing team states: “Due to the high volume of correspondence that we receive each day we are unable to respond directly to each request.”

But finally, it appears workers close to fixing the problem.

Assistant manager for the store Gary Williams, made a request to the company to have the air conditioning unit fixed shortly after joining the store in May.

Yesterday, he said: “People have been in here for the past two weeks and we should by the end of the week have our air conditioning working.

“I’m relieved, and I think the staff are too.”

Nationally Sports Direct has faced huge criticism over the treatment of its employees at its Shirebrook based warehouse, many of whom are on a zero-hours contract.

The company says it will hold an to an independent review into working practices and corporate governance across the board.