UPDATE: New retailer to take over major department store site

Beales, which confirmed its closure this week, said it hoped to relocate some of its 31 employees in Horsham to other Beales stores.

And investment firm Aviva - which owns Beales’ site in The Forum - said today a new retailer would be moving in this summer.

A Beales spokeswoman said that the company was “disappointed” at having to close “as it would have liked to have continued trading there.”

She said the closure followed notice given by the company’s landlords - Aviva - to terminate Beales’ lease from this July.

And an Aviva spokesman said they had ‘various discussions with Beales about its store at The Forum and its future in Horsham.’

“Aviva has now agreed a new lease arrangement with an alternative retailer and Beales will vacate the property in the summer,” he said.

“An announcement about the new retailer will be made in due course.”

Beales first took over the site in The Forum in 2006 on a 25-year lease.

The site was previously occupied by the former Allders store which opened there in 2003.