All BHS stores in the Lothians to close

ALL four BHS stores in the Lothians are to close, administrators for the company have announced.

The British Homes Stores building on Princes St in 2008. Picture; Dan Phillips

The retail giant collapsed earlier this year.

Branches at Ocean Terminal, Cameron Toll and The Centre in Livingston will close on Saturday, July 30.

The flagship Princes Street branch - which will be turned into a hotel and restaurant with space for two shops - will shut at a later date.

The news comes on the day that a damning report into BHS’s ownership under retail billionaire Sir Philip Green was released.

The tycoon was branded the “unacceptable face of capitalism” as a parliamentary inquiry found he systematically extracted huge sums from the collapsed store group while leaving its pension fund in deficit.

Sir Philip and his family pocketed £400 million in dividends during his 15-year ownership of the company, with BHS’s pension scheme nursing a £571 million deficit when it fell into administration.

In a hard-hitting joint report, two Commons select committees accused the entrepreneur of seeking to blame anyone but himself for the firm’s failure and said he has a “moral duty” to make a “large financial contribution” to the 20,000 pensioners facing substantial cuts to their benefits.

While the committees were damning about Dominic Chappell, who bought BHS for £1 from the billionaire last year, and the “directors, advisers and hangers-on” associated with the deal, they said ultimate responsibility lay with Sir Philip.