We have learned that the Bath based offices of the House of Bath are to be closed due to parent company N Brown Group’s decision to relocate the activities of the brand to its Manchester head office. This leaves the future of many of House of Bath’s employees in question as few, if any, are likely to want to relocate to Manchester. Whilst market commentators had surmised that N Brown Group was considering simply “retiring” the brand which is considered to be profitable, this has been denied by the company.
In a statement received from N Brown Group in response, it seems that the brand will continue, though perhaps without its catalogue activity. “We can confirm that following a strategic review and as part of our Group wide simplification programme, we will be consolidating the marketing, buying and merchandising activities for our House of Bath brand, currently operating out of a standalone operation in Bath, into our head office in Manchester.
“Having considered various options and the most efficient and practical route forward, this will result in the closure of our Bath operation. No final decision has been made at this stage, but as part of this process, we will be implementing a redundancy consultation with employees currently working in the Bath office. This course of action has not been taken lightly and we will be supporting colleagues throughout this process and, where possible, we will offer the opportunity to relocate to our Manchester HQ.
“N Brown remains committed to the House of Bath brand and we believe this move will allow us to accelerate a number of key development areas required to take the brand forward, not least through increasing our focus on eCommerce, improvements to marketing and product development.”
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