Three Holmes C&C depots closed in Northern Ireland

Musgrave Group has closed three Holmes cash and carry depots in Northern Ireland, and plans to convert the rest to its format.

The Coleraine, Newtownards and Cookstown depots closed on the June 27 and the business has been transferred to the Ballymena, Hillview, Belfast and Lurgan depots with a loss of 23 jobs.

Holmes said the depots were all relatively close together and customers should experience little noticeable difference in the service they received. It said this was particularly relevant because a growing number of customers were making the move to delivered trade as opposed to traditional cash and carry.

Neil Donnelly, general manager of Holmes Wholesale, said: "To date, our robust operational planning has enabled us to supply our customer base without loss of service and this is reflected in our overall sales performance which is in excess of our original expectations."

Holmes is part of J&J Haslett, which Musgrave Group purchased last September. Musgrave said Holmes would be separated from J&J Haslett and would be integrated fully with Musgrave Wholesale Partners, which already runs two cash and carry depots in the province.