THE Wilko store in Grays appears to have escaped the axe which has fallen on 52 others in the latest round of closures and redundancies announced by the stricken retailer's administrators.

Yesterday rival retailer B&M bought up to 51 other Wilko stores in a deal worth up to £13m, though the names of the stores were not revealed.

However, today (Wednesday, 6 September) the closure of more than 50 stores, with the loss of 1,332 jobs was announced by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which was appointed to oversee the insolvency last month.

The Grays store, in the town's shopping mall, was not on the list of 52 sites to close.

The job cuts are in addition to the loss of 269 roles at the chain's support centre in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, along with 14 roles at Wilko subsidiary Kin Limited, which were announced last week.

The Wilko store at Basildon is among those to close. Some 24 of the branches will close on Tuesday 12 September, while the remaining 28, including Basildon, will shut down two days later.

Administrators added: "It is possible that further store closures may regrettably be necessary", depending on talks with remaining suitors."