Boohoo snaps up £72m office in London’s West End

Online fashion giant Boohoo has snapped up a new office in Soho, in the heart of London’s West End, for £72m.

The six-storey 43,963 sq ft building located at Great Pulteney Street and previously occupied by Microsoft and Nokia, will serve the Manchester-headquartered group’s London-based brands.

Since acquiring the Karen Millen and Coast brands out of administration in 2019, Boohoo’s presence in London ‘has grown significantly’ both organically and more recently through the acquisitions of the Oasis, Warehouse, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Wallis brands.

It said: “The new office is intended to become home for all London-based product, marketing, technology and central support teams, offering flexible working for approximately 600 of our colleagues.”

Earlier this year the fashion retailer saw sales soar during the lockdowns of 2020, with a 40 per cent increase in revenue in the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company reported a 42 per cent increase in sales over the 10 months up to the end of 2020, with particularly strong growth in America. Revenue over that period stood at £1.47bn.

The increase in sales was overshadowed as the Northern Quarter company came under scrutiny for working practices in some of the factories that supply it.

It has since launched a sustainability strategy and has published a list of its UK suppliers after the retailer pledged to take urgent steps to improve governance and oversight of its supply chain.

It follows an independent report, led by prominent lawyer Alison Levitt, which found widespread instances of dangerous working conditions and underpayment of staff.

The investigation, commissioned by Boohoo, followed allegations that factories making its clothes in Leicester were paying workers less than the minimum wage.

The Real Estate and Corporate teams at Manchester law firm, Pannone Corporate, acted as legal advisers to Boohoo.

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