Hastings’ Carpetrite store on the Bexhill Road Retail Park is one of the firm’s top performing stores in the UK.

The town’s borough councillors were told on Wednesday night that the Hastings’ store was on the firm’s ‘A’ list and was not, therefore, facing closure.

The issue of Carpetrite came up when Councillor John Rankin questioned the council’s decision to invest in commercial property. Hastings Borough Council owns the Bexhill Road retail park and Carpetrite’s highly publicised financial woes had made Mr Turner nervous. He pointed to reports in the national press that indicated that Carpetrite was looking to close 92 of its stores and to seek rent reductions of many of its other outlets. He feared that if the Hastings’ store was affected it could effectively remove any profit the council was making on its property portfolio.

Council leader Peter Chowney, an advocate of the commercial property acquisition project, moved to put Mr Turner’s mind at rest.

“Carpetrite has listed its stores and Hastings is on the A-list so it is not being closed and they are not asking for a rent reduction,” Mr Chowney told the council, adding that he was happy the council was making the correct decision in investing in property.