Smiths News is to close its Lancing depot in West Sussex, with affected rounds to be dispatched from the wholesaler’s Crawley branch.

The switch between the depots – located 33 miles apart – will take place on 14 February. A meeting between the NFRN, South East District members and Smiths News took place on 21 January to reassure store owners.

A spokesperson for Smiths News told Better Retailing stores would not be affected as it had “plans in place to meet all existing RDTs and delivery times”.

Smiths News to enter final phase of turnaround plan

They added: “There will be some minor changes to routes because of the new start point of Crawley.

“However, as Crawley will benefit from earlier publisher inbound times, we believe this will be a positive move all round.

“Magazine returns will still be processed at Hemel Hempstead. We have no further closures planned.”

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