THE future of the town’s Mothercare and Early Learning stores are hanging in the balance after the company announced it would be closing 111 UK stores in the next three years.

The mothers-to-be, babies and children’s group revealed plans to cut the number of stores in the UK from 311 to 200, which will include 36 Mothercare sites and 75 Early Learning Centres, following months of weak trade.

The announcement came as the group revealed a further deterioration in UK like-for-like sales, which fell 9.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to March 31, compared with three per cent in the previous quarter.

A spokesman for the group, which has a stores at the Greenbridge Retail Park and Brunel Centre, said: “We are not announcing today the location of the 111 stores still to close as they will close progressively over three years depending on leases and other factors. We have no more information to give at this time.”

There will be a total of 730 job losses across the country.

The remaining 200 stores will be ‘profitable’, the group said, and will comprise 95 out-of-town sites and 105 high street locations, while the closures will improve UK profits by £13m by March 2015.

Mothercare has already closed 62 stores in the current financial year, three Mothercare outlets and 59 Early Learning Centres.