Cambridge Labour Party launch petition to save John Lewis store

Labour representatives expressed their concerns that the Cambridge store may be forced to close

John Lewis reported a £517 million loss in 2020MOMENTUM/FLICKR

by Matilda Head

This article is 4 years old

Monday March 15 2021, 8:15pm

The Cambridge Labour Party have created a petition to ‘Save John Lewis’, following fears that the Grand Arcade store may not re-open after lockdown.

Following the John Lewis Partnership’s reported £517 million loss in 2020, Dame Sharon Michele White, the partnership's chair, had explained that due to the impact of COVID-19, they will not be able to reopen all stores after lockdown.

While some store closures were announced last year in Birmingham, Croydon, Watford, Newbury, Swindon, and Tamworth, as well as at smaller stores at St Pancras International and Heathrow Airport, the future of the Grand Arcade branch in Cambridge is yet to be decided.

The petition, launched on the Cambridge Labour Party’s website, states: “We are coming together to show the strength of feeling that John Lewis should stay in Cambridge. We will send this petition to the chain’s boss Dame Sharon Michele White asking her to urgently confirm that our much loved store will remain open.”

They express concern for the possible closure of the Grand Arcade store, explaining “John Lewis, and Robert Sayle before, have a proud history in Cambridge going back to 1840.”

Street food trading to restart at Cambridge Market next week

Previous efforts to avoid the closure of the Cambridge branch saw Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, write to the Partnership Chair in a letter seen by Varsity from 24th February.

In the letter, Zeichner requested public confirmation that the Grand Arcade store would not face closure.

He continued that “John Lewis is a store that is loved by many in the city. We need certainty for your staff, and Cambridge needs John Lewis to continue to trade in our city to help secure future prosperity as we rebuild as lockdown eases.”

Full news of closures across John Lewis’ 42 branches is expected towards the end of March.

Support Varsity

Varsity is the independent newspaper for the University of Cambridge, established in its current form in 1947. In order to maintain our editorial independence, our print newspaper and news website receives no funding from the University of Cambridge or its constituent Colleges.

We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead.

In spite of this situation, we are going to look at inventive ways to look at serving our readership with digital content and of course in print too!

Therefore we are asking our readers, if they wish, to make a donation from as little as £1, to help with our running costs. Many thanks, we hope you can help!