THE closing date for Hexham’s flagship department store Beales has been extended.

Beales, which has been known as Hexham Outlet Centre since last year, was originally due to close on Tuesday. Its planned closure came after the company went into administration last month.

But this week the joint administrators of the department store chain, KPMG, confirmed that the new closure date was Monday, February 24. A spokeswoman said there was a possibility this could change, depending on the success of the closing down sale.

The Hexham store is the first of the company’s 23 stores to be given a closure date.

Last week the chain announced it planned to close 12 of its stores. However an update given on Tuesday confirmed that the remaining 11would also be preparing for closure after no offers had been received for the sale of the business.