WHSmith to close 17 stores this year - is your local branch affected?

21 January 2025, 18:02

WHSmith is closing 17 stores
WHSmith is closing 17 stores. Picture: Alamy

By Emma Soteriou

WHSmith is set to close 17 of its stores this year - find out if your local branch is affected.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

The high street chain has already closed two of its stores in Luton, Bedfordshire and Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth.

However, 15 others are set to close their doors for good due to it being "no longer sustainable" to keep them running.

In the last two years, 10 WHSmith stores have closed in areas such as Manchester, Crewe and Somerset.

The retailer confirmed in June 2023 that it would not be opening more high street stores, with it instead focusing on expanding outside the sector.

Read more: 'I'll just knock you out the way': Customers try to ram Animal Rising activists staging demo in Sainsbury's meat aisle

Read more: John Lewis rolls out AI age checks for online knife sales

It comes after WHSmith announced plans to open 110 stores in airports, train stations and hospitals, where they see a higher profit.

More than 50 stores are also expected to be opened in North America.

Full list of WHSmith stores closing

  • Bournemouth (Old Christchurch Road), Dorset - January 18
  • Luton, Bedfordshire - January 18
  • March, Cambridgeshire - January 25
  • Basingstoke, Hampshire - February 1
  • Newtown, Powys - February 15
  • Bournemouth (Winton), Dorset - February 15
  • Rhyl, Denbighshire - February 15
  • Bolton, Greater Manchester – February
  • Accrington, Lancashire - March 15
  • Halstead, Essex - April
  • Halesowen, West Midlands - April
  • Diss, Norfolk - April
  • Newport, South Wales - April
  • Haverhill, Suffolk - April 26
  • Stockton, County Durham - May
  • Oldham, Greater Manchester - May
  • Orpington, Greater London - no date given

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Passengers walking past a class 374 Eurostar train at London St Pancras International train station, London, UK

Eurostar unveils plans to launch direct trains from UK to Germany and Switzerland

Woodland Trust warns UK forests are failing nature and climate

'Alarmingly few ancient trees left': Woodland Trust warns UK forests are failing nature and climate

A father and son at the water's edge on Brighton Beach

UK has one of 'worst statutory leave offers for fathers and other parents in the developed world', Equalities boss says

x

Mum of autistic teen 'obsessed with Hitler' who took her own life slams agencies over 'missed opportunities'

Meg Moore - Love Island star

'Too glam for a 9-to-5 job': Love Island star’s remark irks viewers in first episode of hit reality show

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte Speaks At Chatham House

Brits 'better learn to speak Russian' if UK does not ramp up defence spending, Nato secretary-general warns

‘Freedom Flotilla’

Greta Thunberg's 'Freedom Flotilla' arrives in Israeli port

Sly And The Family Stone

Legendary funk rocker and soul musician Sly Stone dies aged 82

Protesters help news photographer Nick Stern after an injury during a protest in Compton, Calif., Saturday, June 7, 2025, after federal immigration authorities conducted operations.

'US police want to win', says British photographer injured by 'plastic bullet' in LA protests amid immigration crackdown

Morin-Briton, of Rosehill, Sutton, was found guilty of murder and possession of a knife

Killer jailed for life after 'senseless' stabbing of man in South London car park

Women who experience domestic violence are at higher risk of traumatic brain injury and mental health conditions almost 30 years after escaping their abusers, a study suggests.

Women who experience domestic violence 'at higher risk of brain injury almost 30 years after escaping abusers'

Ada Bikakci

London bus driver who killed girl, 9, on bike after falling asleep at wheel while on drugs jailed for four years

Lively and Baldoni have been locked in a legal battle for months

Judge dismisses Justin Baldoni's $400m defamation lawsuit against former co-star Blake Lively

Kulsuma Akter

'Violent and controlling' husband stabbed wife to death after tracing her to hostel 'where she'd gone to escape him'

Author Frederick Forsyth has died aged 86.

Frederick Forsyth, author of bestselling novel The Day of the Jackal, dies aged 86

Peter Brookes (L) stabbed Graeme Perks in Nottinghamshire in 2021 during a failed arson attack

Plastic surgeon jailed for life after trying to murder fellow surgeon in stabbing during failed arson attack