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Lookers confirms decision to close Manchester head office after 50 years in city

  • Lookers to close its head office in Altrincham and move staff to Stoke on Trent
  • MD addressed rumours jobs were on the line and confirms ‘no redundancies’
  • Staff in finance and admin roles are unaffected by the changes

Time 10:10 am, May 30, 2025

Lookers is set to close its head office in Altrincham ‘imminently’ after more than 50 years in Manchester.

The move will see around 12 staff moved to another one of the dealer group’s sites in Stoke on Trent.

Rumours in the motor trade suggested large numbers of staff were affected by the changes, but managing director James Brearley said this was not the case.

Speaking to Car Dealer this morning, Brearley addressed rumours that Lookers was cutting head office, admin and finance staff.

‘That is categorically not true and it’s important we put the record straight,’ he said.

‘The Altrincham site will be closing imminently but that effects 12 staff all of whom will be moving to another of our site’s in Stoke on Trent.

‘There will be no redundancies.’

Lookers has had a base in Greater Manchester since 1973 when the company moved its headquarters from Hardman Street to Chester Road. 

It later moved to the Altrincham site when the company listed on the London Stock Exchange. 

Lookers was taken private by Global Auto Holdings in October 2023 in a deal worth £504m.

An initial offer of 120p per share was rejected by Cinch, a shareholder in the listed group, but it was later improved to 130p a share which was accepted.

The Canadian owners have had a chequered time at the helm of Lookers with a number of redundancies made after the takeover.

Brearley, formerly Inchcape boss, took over from Mark Raban in July of last year.

James Baggott's avatar

James is the founder and editor-in-chief of Car Dealer Magazine, and CEO of parent company Baize Group. James has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years writing about cars and the car industry.



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