Plymouth’s House of Fraser is set to close in March 2026, Plymouth Plus can reveal.
Signs have today been placed in windows of the department store informing shoppers, “this store will be closing in March 2026”, and "please shop online".
The Plymouth store is now one of only 12 House of Fraser locations still open across the UK. Despite the closure, Frasers Group reported a pre tax profit of £290.9m in its most recent half year results to October.
The company said growth has been driven by Sports Direct and improved margins within its premium and luxury brands, particularly Flannels.
The prominent Plymouth building occupies a full city block with entrances on Armada Way, New George Street and Royal Parade. The six storey site, which also includes a basement, has been marketed for sale for several years.
An earlier asking price of £4m was reduced after a proposed sale failed to complete. In August 2022, a purchase was described as "imminent", but no deal materialised and the property returned to the market in June 2024 for around £3m.
The building forms part of a wider city centre estate acquired by British Land when it paid £67m for a major retail block stretching from Old Town Street to Armada Way, including the former Debenhams store. Plymouth City Council remains the freeholder.
House of Fraser occupies the building through SDI Propco 46 Ltd under a licence agreement at a peppercorn rent. The original lease was granted for 125 years from January 1992, leaving approximately 92 years remaining.
The Plymouth branch had previously been earmarked for closure in 2018 before being saved when Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley bought House of Fraser out of administration. The business was later rebranded as Frasers Group.
Frasers Group owns several high profile retail brands including Sports Direct, Flannels, Jack Wills, GAME, USC, Lillywhites and Evans Cycles. A number of those brands continue to trade from locations across Plymouth city centre.
The store also holds a notable place in Plymouth’s history. In 1988, it was badly damaged in a major fire after animal rights activists broke into the building and set fire to fur coats.
Around 120 firefighters and 20 fire engines were involved at the height of the incident, with the fire spreading rapidly due to the absence of a sprinkler system.
Despite the scale of the blaze, which was one of the largest Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service had ever faced, only one person suffered minor injuries.
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