John Lewis has said that it is closing its Watford store as it was one of several stores that were "financially challenged".

The shop in intu Watford is among eight sites across the UK that John Lewis confirmed it will be closing.

Watford Borough Council confirmed that John Lewis did not pay rent on its Watford store, but the chain says the decision was made to close it along with seven other sites "to secure the business’s long-term future" and respond to "customers' shopping needs".

The shops that will be closing include its travel hub shops at Heathrow and St Pancras, four At Home shops in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth and two full size department stores in Birmingham and Watford.

This has put 1,300 jobs at risk, with affected employees set to enter a consultation.

Why is John Lewis closing stores?

The department chain said prior to the pandemic, its Watford store was among eight identified for closure as they were already financially challenged.

It said that because of the coronavirus pandemic, it accelerated the switch from shopping in-store to online.

Before the virus struck, 40 percent of John Lewis sales were online, but this could now be closer to 60 to 70 percent of total sales this year and next, John Lewis said.

Therefore, John Lewis said it felt the closure was "necessary to help us secure the sustainability of the Partnership ".

The shift towards online has seen the company double capacity at its Waitrose supermarket arm, while it also plans further investment in John Lewis's online business.

However, it stressed that John Lewis shops have a "vital role" within the business.

What does this mean for jobs?

Around 1,300 of its workers across the eight stores, known as partners, will now enter consultations over the cuts.

The company said that, if redundancies are confirmed, "every effort" will be made to find new roles where possible across the group.

It said that opportunities could include transferring to local Waitrose shops or working for johnlewis.com and waitrose.com.

Those who have worked with the business for more than a year would be entitled to redundancy pay, which equates to two weeks’ pay for every year of service.

Those with less than one year’s service who leave on grounds of redundancy would receive an ex-gratia tax-free payment equivalent to one week’s contractual pay.

What did John Lewis say?

John Lewis Partnership chairwoman Sharon White said: "Closing a shop is always incredibly difficult and today's announcement will come as very sad news to customers and partners.

"However, we believe closures are necessary to help us secure the sustainability of the partnership - and continue to meet the needs of our customers however and wherever they want to shop.

"Redundancies are always an absolute last resort and we will do everything we can to keep as many partners as possible within our business."

Ms White added that the partnership will soon announce the results of a recent strategic review to help boost the performance of its brands.