A clothes shop in Wycombe’s Eden Shopping Centre is at risk of closure, according to an employee who’s ‘90 per cent convinced’ it’s for the axe.

High street giant Next warned of possible store closures this week after losing a landmark legal case over equal pay.

An employment tribunal warned that the retailer failed to demonstrate that the lower basic wage paid to sales consultants compared with warehouse operatives was not the result of sex discrimination.

It meant 3,500 former and current workers at the group winning a pay claim after a six-year battle, which Next is expected to appeal against.

However, chief executive Lord Wolfson cautioned that if the appeal isn’t won, the chain could be forced to close a number of shops due to “soaring costs”.

One employee at the clothing shop’s High Wycombe branch thinks they know which way the wind’s blowing – with retail assistant David Balicrest telling the Free Press he was “90 per cent convinced” the Eden Shopping Centre unit would be a casualty of the legal fall-out.

He said: “We had a meeting on Thursday morning where they told us we’re at risk of closure and that it’s on the radar.

“I was going to leave soon anyway, but I could have seen it coming. There have been a few shops leaving the Eden Centre recently, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we joined them.”

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In its half-year results, Next said: “In the possible (but unlikely) event we lose this case on appeal, there will be a financial cost to the group and its ongoing future operating costs.

“Each of our stores is treated as a business in its own right and must remain individually profitable if they are to open in the first place and continue trading at lease renewal.

“Inevitably some of our stores will no longer be viable if this ruling is upheld on appeal.

“Materially increasing store operating costs will result in more shops being closed when their leases expire and will materially impede our ability to open new stores going forward.”

The company said its legal team was “very confident of our grounds for appeal”, but stressed that the process may not conclude for at least a year.

Next has been contacted for comment.