Dublin's House of Fraser store not part of Sports Direct deal

10 August 2018

The future of House of Fraser's Dublin outlet is unclear after it was excluded from Sports Direct's buyout of the department store.

Sports Direct paid £90m for all House of Fraser's UK stores, the House of Fraser brand and all of the stock in the business.

However, the deal does not include House of Fraser's only Dublin outlet in Dundrum.

The Belfast store was not one of the 31 of 59 UK stores marked for closure.

House of Fraser - which began trading 169 years ago - employs 16,000, 5,900 directly and 10,100 in the concessions.

Earlier, a sign on the window of the store in the Victoria Square shopping centre said the shop would not open until 11:00 BST on Friday.

When it did open, a customer who tried to use a £100 gift voucher at the store said she had it declined.

"I had the voucher which was a work leaving gift and it had to be used by 31 August," Margaret Brown told BBC News NI .

A sign on the window of the Belfast House of Fraser

"I picked a pair of shoes but a member of staff said 'I'm sorry but we can't accept it as we have gone into administration'."

She was then told she might be able to use the voucher in future, "but there was no definite yes or no".

A spokesperson for House of Fraser said this was "only a temporary situation and will be resolved".

BBC News NI's John Campbell said that, according to a source, some suppliers stopped their normal deliveries to the Belfast store earlier this week.

Union concern

Meanwhile, management at the Dublin branch are believed to be meeting appointed examiners, with staff due to be briefed later.

Trade union Mandate has expressed serious concern about the store and said that it is seeking information from the retailer.

It said it had put questions to House of Fraser earlier this week in relation to its future but has not yet received a response.

Sports Direct is owned by businessman Mike Ashley.

In November 2015, the company purchased Belfast's Donegall Arcade.