Britannia may have ruled the waves, but it will not be ruling the high street anymore. The Co-operative, which owns Britannia have announced that all their stores will be rebranded as The Co-operative over the next 12 months.
The rebranding will have no immediate impact on Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium
The move will also see 37 Britannia branches close their doors for good. The store closures will affect around 34 people’s jobs, but the closures are only in areas where a branch already exists. It is hoped that neighbouring branches will be able to accommodate the redundant staff.
As many football fans may know, the Stoke City FC stadium is currently called The Britannia. This will remain unchanged for the duration of the sponsorship contract, as a spokesperson for The Co-operative explained.
He said: “The changes we have announced have no impact on our current contract with Stoke City regarding sponsorship of the Britannia Stadium which runs up to the end of the 2013/14 season.”
The Co-operative will have around 300 branches in its portfolio after the closures, but it is currently in talks with Lloyds to buy 630 of their commercial properties that are being offloaded. Since the merge with Britannia, the banking group has made cuts of around £70 million – good news as the acquisition of Lloyds branches will cost £750 million.
Are you a Stoke fan? Will you be happy saying “We’re off to watch a match at The Co-operative” in the future? Share your thoughts with us below.
