Gone for a Burton...

Lancaster's Burton store is the latest Arcadia-owned store to close in the city, despite having seven months left on its lease.

Last year, another Arcadia store, Wallis, closed on Penny Street but the business moved into space in the BHS store on Market Street.

The nearest Burton is now in Preston.

Sir Philip Green, owner of the Arcadia Group, the largest privately-owned retail empire in the UK, announced plans to merge BHS into the Arcadia Group to make the business more efficient in 2009. The decision related to the cost of store space in city centres, with a proportion of the 200-300 Evans, Burtons, Wallis and Dorothy Perkins outlets being moved into BHS stores.

This latest closure in St. Nicholas Arcades means it currently has three major vacant units, all on the approach to Boots and Superdrug. Meanwhile, although saved from closure last year, childrenswear Adams went into administration in January, although it's reported elsewhere that there are no plans to close the store in Lancaster at this time.

In other high street news, Lancaster's Ethel Austin store has been spared the axe after that Liverpool-based chain went into administration. More than 1,000 staff at Ethel Austin lost their jobs after the fashion retailer’s administrator was forced to close 114 stores last month. The Morecambe store will also remain open, but branches in Kendal and Poulton-le-Fylde are among those to close.