Burberry to move 300 staff to new Leeds office

Burberry is planning to move 300 roles from its London headquarters to a new office in Leeds which is due to open this autumn.

The British luxury house said the move would enable it to cut costs and reduce office space at its Horseferry Road headquarters. Burberry currently occupies two buildings at the Victoria location, which it could potentially reduce to one.

Staff in London are now in consultation over the move and are faced with the choice of relocating or accepting redundancy. The roles to be relocated are in the areas of finance, HR and procurement, as well as some customer service and IT roles.

Horseferry House: Burberry's London HQ

Burberry is currently undergoing a strategic plan to take £100m of costs out of the business by 2019 and the relocation of some functions to the Yorkshire city form part of it.

Chief executive and chief creative officer Christopher Bailey said: "This is an important move for Burberry as we continue to deliver on the strategic priorities we outlined last year.

"In addition to the benefits it will bring to the business, opening an office in Leeds reinforces our commitment to the UK and to Yorkshire, home of our iconic trench coat," he said.

Earlier plans to build a new factory in Leeds remain on hold having been postponed following the Brexit vote last June.

Bailey will be handing over CEO responsibilities to Marco Gobbetti in July to take up the new position of president and chief creative officer. Gobbetti, who joined the business from Céline in January, is currently overseeing Burberry's APAC operations.