Victorian Plumbing is going to shutter the rival firm it bought just months ago

Victorian Plumbing bought out its competitor Victoria Plum in May this year in a £22.5m deal after the bathroom retailer plunged into administration six months earlier. 

Since then, Victorian Plumbing continued a cost-cutting programme for the Doncaster-based retailer with the intention of allowing both companies to continue trading separately.

However, Retail Week understands that staff were alerted yesterday that Victoria Plum is to close, risking around 100 jobs.

A Victorian Plumbing spokesperson told Retail Week: “Following the acquisition of AHK Designs Ltd, we are proposing a closure plan for VictoriaPlum.com. As a result we have entered into a consultation period with a number of VictoriaPlum.com colleagues and only when the period completes can we provide an update.

“We are committed to keeping all employees, suppliers and connected parties up to date as we progress with the consultation. This proposal does not impact Victorian Plumbing Ltd.”

When Victorian Plumbing first purchased the business, CEO and founder Mark Radcliffe said the move was “another exciting strategic milestone” for the company.

“The acquisition aligns with our ambitions to accelerate our growth,” he said.

“We are pleased to welcome the existing Victoria Plum team to our group and look forward to continuing to provide customers with a fantastic range of bathroom products and accessories.”

Victoria Plum had 300 staff when it went into administration, and it is unclear how many jobs are now at risk in its closure following the cost-cutting scheme, which saw staff numbers drop.

The retailer fell into administration almost a year ago and was first bought in a pre-pack deal by AHK Designs, a subsidiary of the firm that owns Beds.co.uk and Cox & Cox. Victorian Plumbing then bought its rival six months later.

Of the intentions for the deal, Radcliffe said at the time: “Given that Victoria Plum has recently been through an administration and there is already a cost-reduction programme in progress, the company intends to continue to trade the business as normal initially, pending finalisation of our integration plan.”

The deal shocked the market when it was announced in May, owing to the shared history of the retailers and Victoria Plum’s reputation as the thorn in the side of Victorian Plumbing. 

Of the two, Victorian Plumbing arrived on the market first, after it was founded by Radcliffe in 2000, while brothers Jason and Shane Walker created competitor Victoria Plum, then named Victorian Plumb, a year later. 

Fierce rivals, in 2018 the pair were locked in a court battle over trademark infringement. Victorian Plumbing was ordered to pay out £1.75m to its competitor after a court found it had created confusion with its paid search engine advertising by promoting infringing text when potential customers were searching for ‘Victoria Plum’ and related terms.