Thorntons chocolatiers in Northampton town centre closes down without notice

Thorntons' chocolate shop in Northampton town centre has closed down permanently after shutting for the lockdown in March.

The chocolatiers in Abington Street has been stripped of all of its branding and furnishings and is now standing empty.

Thorntons temporarily closed its doors as part of the coronavirus lockdown in March this year. But now it will not reopen.

It joins its neighbour, the former Clintons Cards store, as one of Abington Street's high street brands that closed in March only to shut down for good.

It comes after the chocolatier company made redundancies at one of its major factories in Derbyshire, but in a statement insisted the move was "not due to coronavirus".

A spokeswoman for Thorntons said: “We are committed to transforming and growing the much loved and iconic Thorntons brand. To be able to do this, we must ensure we have a store estate that meets changing consumer needs and operates as a commercially viable retail business.

"As a business that has been part of the UK retail footprint for over a century, we continuously review our store estate, store locations and infrastructure to ensure they are fit for current and future customers. This includes reviewing a variety of different store variables such as formats, locations, refurbishments, and where necessary closures.

"As a result of our most recent review, we have taken the difficult decision not to re-open the Thorntons in Northampton. This decision was not taken lightly and we understand that this will be an uncertain and concerning time for our colleagues. We will support all of our colleagues who are affected through individual consultations. We accept that we will have to consider redundancy and here we will continue to support with enhanced redundancy.”