By James Rodger

Copyright birminghammail

27 major stores and high street banks are set to shut during the tenth month of the year. Starbucks, the hot drinks giant, is set to close stores as footfall becomes harder to come by on UK high streets across the country. Starbucks is to close some UK stores following a review of its global coffee shops. The company launched a consultation over the proposed closure of a number of company-owned UK stores, putting workers at the sites at risk. However, it did not disclose how many stores will be affected, where these are located and how many workers will be affected. In a statement, Starbucks said: “We have conducted a review of our coffeehouse portfolio in North America and certain stores have been identified for closure where it has not been possible to create the physical environment customers and partners (employees) want, and where there isn’t a path to financial performance. READ MORE UK households in 23 parts of England will have to obey new black bin rule “In Europe Middle East & Africa (EMEA), we have conducted a similar review of our company-operated store portfolio with the goal of ensuring that our stores are correctly located, generating appropriate levels of foot traffic and operating in the right formats. “While the EMEA business is on track to meet its commitment to open 80 new stores in the UK and 150 across EMEA this financial year, some stores in the UK, Switzerland and Austria will close as a result of this portfolio review.” Discount chain Poundland is shutting its Liscard, Tenby, Livingston and Lowestoft stores in October. The closures include Liscard on October 1, Lowestoft on October 10, Livingston on October 12, Tenby on October 18, Inverness on October 12. The stores have already launched big closing down sales to get rid of their stock with some offering up to 40 per cent off. Poundland, which employs more than 14,000 staff, has struggled financially in recent years. Sports Direct is also shutting one of its stores next month. The Rhyl store in North Wales will be pulling the shutters down permanently in October but an exact closure date has not yet been confirmed. The shop has already kicked off a 30% off closing down sale. Trespass will close its Watford store on October 31. The shop is located on the upper mall level of Harlequin Watford shopping centre. It has launched an “everything must go” sale ahead of its closure. Starbucks, which has branches in Birmingham , runs around 520 company-owned stores in the UK, as well as franchise-owned coffee shops. It is understood more than 5,600 people work for Starbucks across the UK. The chain said it is planning to close sites where it has not been able to “create the physical environment customers” want, and where they are not sustainably profitable. NatWest bank branch closures in October 2025 include the following