Hatfields Jaguar: Job losses announced at doomed Sheffield luxury car dealership

Twenty jobs will be lost when a historic Sheffield Jaguar dealer closes, the boss has revealed.

Hatfields on Sharrow Vale Road is being merged into the Wakefield business ahead of the brand going all-electric by 2025.

Managing director Gareth Williams said 20 jobs would be axed across both sites and Sheffield would close on September 30.  It was not a "reflection on the performance or abilities" of staff, he added, and they sold more cars in Sheffield.

The decision was due to the nature of the site which was "simply not capable of taking that leap into the future."

He said: "Business is booming, this is not a knee-jerk economic reaction. The showroom in Sheffield is on two levels and the workshop is very old fashioned. Demolition would be required. Wakefield has good facilities. Hopefully we can take Sheffield customers with us."

The plot would be sold, he added.

Hatfields was established in Sheffield by Ernest Hatfield in 1922. It moved to Sharrow Vale Road in 1982. Today, it has nine locations in Yorkshire, the North West and Shropshire.

Mr Williams said the nature of car buying was changing and the new Jaguars would require fewer "representation points" in an online world.