WH Smith in Richmond's George Street has been thrown into uncertainty after the company announced it was cutting 1,500 jobs nationally.

The company said group revenues were down 57% in July year-on-year, after its travel business was badly hit by the Covid-19 crisis.

It said it now expected to make a loss of between £70 million and £75 million for the year to August.

A spokesperson for the company said it was not commenting on individual stores at this stage.

WH Smith group chief executive Carl Cowling said: "Covid-19 continues to have a significant impact on the WH Smith Group.

"Throughout the pandemic, we have responded quickly and taken decisive actions to protect the business including substantially strengthening our financial position. We have also welcomed support from Government where available.

"In our Travel business, while we are beginning to see early signs of recovery in some of our markets, the speed of recovery continues to be slow.

"At the same time, while there has been some progress in our High Street business, it does continue to be adversely affected by low levels of footfall.

"As a result, we now need to take further action to reduce costs across our businesses.

"I regret that this will have an impact on a significant number of colleagues whose roles will be affected by these necessary actions, and we will do everything we can to support them at this challenging time."

Richmond Nub News has been reporting on the changing face of the town's high street. House of Fraser looks set to be turned into four floors of offices, as well as a ground floor shop and leisure.

Other high street chains including Topshop and Vision Express have also closed their stores.

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