The Brewery Romford Poundland closure - staff member reacts

The discount chain's store at the Brewery Retail Park closed for the final time on Monday (September 14).

Poundland employee of seven years, Wayne Hodges, said he found out through the Recorder’s article from August 28.

“It’s sad, but I knew it might happen at some point,” Wayne said when this paper visited the store last week.

'It's been a real pleasure' farewell signs to shoppers (Image: Maya Aguirre)

The closure of the store at Brewery Retail Park comes after a wider Poundland overhaul, which happened at the start of 2026.

As part of the endeavour, the company closed 149 stores, costing 2,200 employees their jobs, the Guardian reported in January.

The Recorder reported that the Brewery Retail Park store is now set to become a Lidl supermarket.

Empty shelves before the store closed on Monday (Image: Maya Aguirre)

“[Poundland] received notification from the landlord of their unwillingness to enter a new lease around 17 July and colleagues were all briefed within days of that,” a spokesperson for Poundland wrote in an email to the Recorder.

The spokesperson did not say how many employees lost their jobs, but said that three colleagues were accommodated at nearby stores in the wake of the closure.

Wayne, who got to know a regular customer base during his time at Poundland, said he had no plans to apply to work at Lidl if the store was approved for the retail space.

The store is set to become a Lidl supermarket (Image: Maya Aguirre)

Several shoppers told the Recorder that while they were regular visitors to the Brewery Poundland, they were unlikely to change their regular food shopping routines if Lidl was to take over the retail space.

One customer, who asked to remain unnamed, said she was looking forward to having a Lidl closer to her home, but expressed sadness about Poundland closing.

“It’s frustrating there are less and less of these discount stores,” she said.

Four days before the store’s closure, several customers were spotted making their final shopping trips, cramming Christmas decor and hygiene essentials into the trolleys.

The store was mostly emptied out with the exception of a few aisles.