Staff at the Queen Alexandra Dock branch of Travis Perkins in Cardiff received a letter from management last Friday announcing the coming closure, according to an anonymous member of staff.

The same source, interviewed by Wales Online, said that the news didn’t really come as a surprise, as stock levels had been diminishing for some time, although he also added that everyone there is upset.

More than 100 people are said to be working at the branch. Their future currently remains uncertain.

In a statement to BMN, a spokesperson for Travis Perkins said: “I can confirm that after careful consideration, we have announced our intention to close our Cardiff Range Centre; a facility that holds heavyside building materials stock and timber for our branches in this area.

“This is in line with our strategy to simplify our business and provide customers with the best possible service, and follows a recent trend for improved capability amongst our suppliers to source products more quickly, and to deliver these directly to our branches or our customers’ building sites. As a result, our branches are now better positioned to meet customers’ demands themselves, without the need for a Range Centre, which means this type of facility is no longer part of our plans going forward.

“We have entered into a period of consultation with those employees who could be affected by these changes, and will make every effort to redeploy colleagues where possible, Until we conclude the consultation process in November we will not be in a position to comment on final numbers, and our priority at this time is to support our colleagues.”