Burberry abandons plans to open £50m manufacturing facility in Leeds

Burberry, the British luxury fashion brand, has halted plans to invest £50m in a new manufacturing and weaving facility in South Bank, Leeds.

The development, which would have been located at the Grade-I listed Temple Works building, was first revealed in 2015.

The facility, scheduled to be completed in 2019, was expected to create around 200 new jobs.

However, Burberry does not intend on going forward with the redevelopment as it has allowed the building lease on Temple Works to lapse.

The global brand, which currently operates sites at ​Castleford and Cross Hills in Yorkshire, is still debating whether to work on further land it owns within the South Bank area.

In addition, Burberry is still going ahead with plans to open a new business services centre in Leeds, which will see 300 jobs transferred from its London offices.

This announcement comes as Burberry released its first set of financial results under new chief executive, Marco Gobbetti. Burberry reported a 3% rise in revenue to £478m for the three months ending 30th June, 2017, while like-for-like sales rose by 4%.

Mr Gobbetti said: “I am delighted to have started as Burberry CEO. We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter, while mindful of the work still to do. This is a time of great change for Burberry and the wider luxury industry.”

Globally, Burberry has 205 retail stores, 197 concessions, 59 outlets and 48 franchise stores.

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