Next says 'no evidence' that Covid-19 spread in its stores      

"We have found no evidence of the virus being transmitted in our stores; nor are we aware of any studies that suggest clothing and homeware retail presents a significant risk of infection," it said

Next has been one of the few UK or Irish retailers to have weathered the Covid-19 crisis relatively successfully. File picture: Steve Parsons

Next has said there is no evidence that selling clothes helps spread the Covid-19 disease, as the fashion retailer pushes back against the threat that its stores in the UK could be shut under any new UK-wide lockdown.          

Next, which has 550 stores in the UK and Ireland and a further 200 outlets on the continent and Asia, makes no mention of the closure of its stores in the Republic but warns that the "biggest single unknown" is whether stores in England, Scotland, and the North will also shut in the run-up to Christmas after Wales decided to close its non-essential retailing.