THE countdown to find a replacement for a Darlington department store has begun after one of the most famous names in high street retailing announced massive closure plans.

C&A will be shutting all its UK stores during the next six months with the loss of 4,800 jobs. The closure will see 245 jobs going at stores in Darlington, Newcastle, Gateshead MetroCentre, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and York.

The company's branch at the Cornmill Centre in Darlington had already been earmarked for closure with C&A saying it would remain on site until a new retailer was in place.

Yesterday's news has put more pressure on managers at the centre to find a new tenant.

Albion Small, president of Darlington Chamber of Trade, said: "Despite the announcement made by C&A, the situation in the Cornmill Centre remains the same.

"C&A as an operation will cease to be from 2001, and as far as we are concerned the store will remain in the Cornmill until then. We are still working to find a suitable replacement in the Cornmill Centre and will continue to do so."

Mr Small could not say what would happen after January next year, but reaffirmed that efforts would be stepped up to find a department store to replace C&A.

Fast-growing store chain TJ Hughes pulled out of a deal to take over the site after six months of discussions.

Workers at C&A stores across the region arrived at work yesterday to be told of their fate, with the whole C&A network of stores in the UK ceasing to exist in January 2001.

The decision to close all 109 stores in the UK and Ireland has been made in the face of fierce competition in the hard-pressed clothing industry.

C&A, which opened its first UK store in London in 1922, promised generous payouts to workers and said it would try to help them find new jobs.

The company's UK managing director, Neil McCausland, said: "This is a sad and difficult decision for the company. C&A has been part of the British high street for over 75 years and was determined to remain so. Unfortunately, business conditions do not allow this to happen."

l Not the last - Page 17