Shop closes permanently

THE Yate branch of Shaws the Drapers has closed permanently after the company went into liquidation.

The shop in South Walk closed with no notice or explanation in December, following a sale in which stock was sold off at half price.

It was one of 28 stores nationwide run by the Cardiff-based company, which had been trading for more than 100 years, selling soft furnishings and craft supplies, including wool and yarn.

At the time of the closure there was no explanation from the company but, after the last of the stores closed two days before Christmas and the company's website, Shawsdirect.com, also shut down it was revealed that the company had ceased trading.

An email to staff, shown to the BBC, said they would be paid in full up to Christmas Eve and thanked them for their service.

It said: "I hope that you will understand that after 100 years of trading, this hasn't been an easy decision for us to make, and we fully appreciate the consequences for you, but the business simply is not viable and we cannot see a way of making it so."

A spokesperson for insolvency specialists Stones & Co confirmed they had been instructed by the directors of Shaws to help place it into creditors' voluntary liquidation, under which the company would be formally closed.

Its remaining assets would then be valued and sold to help meet its debts.

Ex-employees entitled to redundancy pay or pay in lieu of notice were being referred to the government's Redundancy Payments Service.

A WINTERBOURNE primary school's football team is celebrating winning their county championship.

The boys from Year 5 and 6 at St Michael's C of E Primary School will now represent Gloucestershire in the South West Small Schools tournament in March.

As schools returned to competitive sport for the first time since the pandemic, the team won two rounds of matches in October and November to go through to a tournament at Oxstalls Sports Park in Gloucester shortly before Christmas.

Teacher and football coach Jack Smith said: "The group games couldn’t have gone any better, with the whole team playing football that Lionel Messi would have been proud of.

"We made it through the first group with maximum points and went on to play two more matches, which would see us win the Gloucestershire regional medal if we topped the final group.

"The nerves settled in a little for the first match, and we were