Wildwood at Rushden Lakes to stay open among long list of nationwide closures

Wildwood have confirmed the future of their Rushden Lakes site amid a raft of closures across the country.

The firm’s parent company Tasty PLC this week announced a ‘restructuring’ strategy after a ‘challenging start to the year’.

The company said that it would close 20 loss-making sites around the country but it did not name which ones. All its 54 sites were said by the national press to be at risk of closure.

The branch in Market Harborough closed suddenly yesterday (Wednesday, April 10) with a number of job losses expected.

But a spokesman told local radio station Harborough FM that the Rushden Lakes branch – which opened in 2017 – would stay open. They said: “We are very sad to have to be closing in Market Harborough and would like to thank our loyal customers and of course the team, who we are now working closely with to offer alternative roles in other locations across our remaining estate.

“Both of our restaurants in Hinckley and Rushden Lakes continue to trade and we look forward to a successful future in these locations.”

The firm also had a restaurant in Kettering that shut during Covid. It said it would reopen the site in 2022 and made plans to recruit staff but the Market Place venue never reopened. It’s thought that Wildwood are still locked into a lease on the site and that this may be one of its 20 agreements which it is looking to break.