TWO Body Shop stores in Cheshire West have avoided closure as administrators take “swift action” to reduce the brand’s portfolio.

That swift action has meant that a further 75 stores have been marked for closure today (Thursday, February 29), in addition to the seven which were announced last week. At least 489 people are set to lose their jobs.

In Cheshire West, the Cheshire Oaks Outlet location and the Foregate Street shop are two of 116 stores that are set to remain open across the UK.

Four of the seven shops that shut last week were in London: Surrey Quays, Oxford Street Bond Street, Canary Wharf and Cheapside.

The other three were in Nuneaton in Warwickshire, Ashford Town Centre in Kent, Bristol Queens Road in Bristol.

Administrators said the closures will bring its store estate in line with industry rivals and will support “a return to financial stability”.

The overhaul comes a matter of weeks after European private equity firm Aurelius took control of the business.

The list of the next 75 shops that will close:

Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

Banbury, Oxfordshire

Barnstaple, Devon

Basildon, Essex

Battersea, Greater London

Bedford, Bedfordshire

Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire

Bexleyheath, Greater London

Blackburn, Lancashire

Blackpool, Lancashire

Bournemouth Commercial Rd, Dorset

Bolton, Greater Manchester

Brixton, Greater London

Broughton Park, Cheshire

Bury, Greater Manchester

Camberley, Surrey

Carlisle, Cumbria

Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire

Chippenham, Wiltshire

Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Croydon, Greater London

Didcot, Oxfordshire

Durham, County Durham

East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire

Edinburgh Gyle Centre, Midlothian

Edinburgh Princes Mall, Midlothian

Epsom, Surrey

Fareham, Hampshire

Farnborough, Hampshire

Glasgow Braehead, Lanarkshire

Glasgow Fort, Lanarkshire

Glasgow Silverburn, Lanarkshire

Glasgow Station, Lanarkshire

Grimsby, Lincolnshire

Halifax, West Yorkshire

Harlow, Essex

Hastings, East Sussex

Hempstead Valley, Kent

High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire

Ilford, Greater London

Ipswich, Suffolk

Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight

Islington, Greater London

Kendal, Cumbria

Kings Lynn, Norfolk

Leeds White Rose, West Yorkshire

Lewisham Centre, Greater London

Lichfield, Staffordshire

Loughborough, Leicestershire

Luton, Bedfordshire

Macclesfield, Cheshire

Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire

Morpeth, Northumberland

Newton Abbot, Devon

Northampton, Northamptonshire

Oldham, Greater Manchester

Perth, Perthshire

Peterborough Queensgate, Cambridgeshire

Portsmouth, Hampshire

Regent Street, Greater London

Salisbury, Wiltshire

Stafford, Staffordshire

Stansted Airside, Essex

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

Swansea, Glamorganshire

Telford, Shropshire

Thanet, Kent

Trowbridge, Wiltshire

Wakefield Trinity Walk, West Yorkshire

Walthamstow, Greater London

Wigan, Greater Manchester

Woking, Surrey

Wolverhampton, West Midlands