Sports Direct has told the Government it wants its Leicester shops affected by lockdown in the city to reopen.
According to The Times, the company’s owner has criticised the new lockdown, saying it was “half-cocked plan”.
The business has a new store in Gallowtree gate, Leicester city centre and stores in the out-of-town Fosse Park and Thurmaston shopping centres, which have both been included in the lockdown zone.
The newspaper said Chris Wootton, chief financial officer of parent company Frasers Group, had written to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove asking for clarity over the classification of “essential retail”.
Mr Wootton argued that because Sports Direct stores sold bicycles they were comparable with Decathlon and Go Outdoors, whose stores have been allowed to stay open during the lockdown.
Go Outdoors, part of JD Sports, is currently trading in administration.
The Times said Mr Wootton asked why off-licences were allowed to open but sporting goods shops must shut, given the government’s focus on health.
It quoted his letter as saying: “For the government to deem such items [as alcohol and tobacco] essential to the public over and above the sporting goods we sell is perverse and actually scandalous.
“Once again many industries, including retail, get very little time to react and very vague guidance at the same time.
“Retail specifically is in critical condition, even before the start of the Covid-19 crisis.
"The continued bumbling and lurching from half-cocked plan to non-sensical policy is making things far worse.”
