{"id":124903,"date":"2026-08-30T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/?p=124903"},"modified":"2026-08-30T10:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T09:09:27","slug":"uk-store-disappear-after-nearly-40-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/uk-store-disappear-after-nearly-40-years\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Store Chain to Disappear After Nearly 40 Years as Liquidation Hits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Armstrong Watson<\/em> has been appointed to assist with the liquidation process. The closures have prompted reactions from residents and former employees, many of whom described the stores as longstanding parts of their neighbourhoods and expressed concern for staff affected by the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five Premier Foreways Stores Are Set to Close<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The five stores were run by Billy Bone<\/em><\/strong> and carried Premier branding while remaining independently owned businesses. According to the News & Star<\/em>, the Foreways shops had served communities in Carlisle <\/strong>for almost 40 years, with Mr Bone saying that his business had opened the first Premier stores in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for Armstrong Watson<\/em> confirmed its involvement, saying: \u201cWe can confirm that Armstrong Watson has been instructed by the directors to assist them in placing the company into liquidation<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stores affected are those on Wigton Road, Bedford Road, Blackwell Road, Newlaithes Avenue and Warwick Road. No further details have been provided about what will happen to the individual premises after closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Sun<\/a><\/em>, residents had noticed signs of difficulty <\/strong>before the announcement, with some commenting on social media that shelves had been \u201cvirtually empty a while\u201d. Others reacted to the closures by asking what shops would remain in Carlisle as more businesses disappeared. One resident wrote: \u201cThey\u2019ve been there so long. Hope the staff find something else<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Bone described the decision to enter liquidation as a difficult one. Neither he nor the liquidator provided further information about the next stages of the process when the closures were reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Five Carlisle Premier stores to close as Foreways enters liquidation \u00a9Google Street View<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Former Staff and Residents Respond to the End of a Long-Running Business<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Much of the reaction has focused on the relationship between the stores<\/a>\u2019 owners, employees and customers. Several former members of staff praised Mr Bone and his partner, Jenny<\/em>, for the way they had treated employees over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the News & Star<\/em>, former employee Sue Anderson<\/strong> described the news as \u201cso very saddening\u201d after working for Billy and Jenny for many years, while Rita Simpson called them \u201ckind, caring and considerate bosses\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another former employee, Sharon Deignan Wilson<\/strong>, said she had worked in the office with Jenny for 11 years and described the couple as \u201cfantastic employers\u201d. She added that good employers of their kind were \u201cfew and far between\u201d and said the stores would be \u201csorely missed in the community\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other residents offered similar comments. Photographer Peter Barlow<\/strong> said it was sad to see Premier Foreways<\/em> close and praised the owners for the way they had treated their staff. Premier itself is a national convenience-store network whose branding is used by independently owned retailers. The Carlisle Foreways sites formed part of that network while remaining under their own ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Carlisle residents, the liquidation therefore marks the closure of five individual neighbourhood stores rather than the withdrawal of the Premier brand from the UK. For those who worked in or regularly used the Foreways branches, it also ends a local retail presence that had lasted for nearly four decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A long-running group of five Premier Foreways convenience stores in Carlisle is set to close after the company entered liquidation, bringing almost four decades of trading in the city to an end.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":124905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124903"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124907,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124903\/revisions\/124907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}