Major farm shop near Skipton to permanently close

Keelham Food Hall closed suddenly on 28 December

A major farm shop in North Yorkshire will close for good, it announced.

Keelham Food Hall, near Skipton, has made its employees redundant after administrators failed to find a buyer for the struggling business.

The shop initially closed on 28 December and cited cost of living pressures as the reason.

A spokesperson said: "While interest was received, this was not capable of being delivered within the relevant time scales."

The adjoining restaurants, Keelham Kitchen and Knead Pizzeria, as well as the Kind at Keelham fitness centre are also closed.

A statement from joint administrators Alvarez & Marsal said: "Regrettably, the business is now being wound down.

"All employees have been made redundant, effective from 18 January 2024.

"We are continuing to work with the employees to assist them with claiming their entitlements and obtaining other employment."

Keelham Food Hall said on social media that other factors like food inflation and high interest rates meant it not been able to "attract enough regular shoppers to cover the ever-increasing fixed overheads of the store".

The 25,000 sq ft (2,323 sq m) farm shop in Skipton was opened in 2015 by sister and brother team Victoria and James Robertshaw.

It was a second unit for their original Keelham farm shop in Thornton, Bradford.

The two farm shops separated in 2019 and the Skipton business was sold to investors in 2020.