New Look scraps London headquarters move

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 10, 2018

New Look has decided not to move its headquarters to a new development in Kings Cross, it emerged on Wednesday. The news come amid a troubled time for the British fashion retailer, following the end of its insolvency cover earlier this week.

New Look had taken approximately 123,000 sq ft over seven floors at the mixed-use R7 building in the heart of King’s Cross estate, and was planning to relocate 800 of its employees this Spring.

However, the brand announced this week it received an offer from a third party for the space. The unnamed company is understood to be Google parent company Alphabet Inc, which is currently building a new £1bn office for 7,000 staff in King’s Cross.

A spokesperson for New Look commented:  “Following an unsolicited offer from a third party for our lease agreement with the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership, we have taken the difficult decision not to relocate our London support centre to King’s Cross as planned in 2018. We will remain in our current location on Mortimer Street for the foreseeable future.”

New Look is under pressure after credit insurer Euler Hermes stopped offering insolvency cover to the company’s suppliers on Monday. Whilst the decision was linked to the insurer’s own problems, it is believed that the accounting irregularities scandal surrounding South African retailer Steinhoff, which is owned by Christo Wiese who also owns New Look, may have been a factor too.