Toast - Homebase
Homebase was once one of our leading home improvement chains so, why did it have to close all of its stores?
The BBC Business journalist Sean Farrington investigates.
Alongside him is the entrepreneur Sam White, who at the end of the show has to reach her own conclusions, based only on what she has heard and her own business acumen.
Homebase was established by the supermarket chain Sainsbury's and a Belgian retailer which was already running a DIY business in Europe and America.
The first Homebase store opened in Croydon in 1981 and it had to be temporarily closed by the police after visiting crowds caused a traffic jam.
The chain expanded across the UK and had more than 300 stores.
It went through some highs, and some serious lows, with various owners but what ultimately caused the closure of its shops?
Sean and Sam hear from expert guests including:
- Allison Foster, curator of the Sainsbury Archive, which is based at London Museum Docklands
- Dave Elliott, a former Trading Director then later Commercial Director at Homebase under different owners
- Matt Walton, senior data analyst at GlobalData
While Homebase's standalone stores are toast, the brand continues to trade online under new ownership. Homebase garden centres and products are also being included within branches of The Range.
Produced by Jon Douglas, Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
You can email the programme at [email protected]
Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.
Sliced Bread
Sliced Bread is the series that investigates the latest ad-hyped products and trending fads promising to make us healthier, happier and greener. Are they really 'the best thing since sliced bread'? Science presenter Greg Foot finds out.
Greg speaks to experts on a bunk-busting mission to test the latest consumer trends chosen by listeners. Do they live up to the hype? Or are they just marketing BS?
Greg chats to the experts, dives into the data, performs tests and crunches the numbers before putting his findings back to the listener so they can decide if it’s worth spending their hard earned money on.
New episodes of Sliced Bread are released weekly on Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts. But if you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode on BBC Sounds first, a week earlier than anywhere else.
If you have a suggestion for a product to investigate, you can email the team on [email protected] or send a WhatsApp voice note via the number 07543 306807.
Sliced Bread is produced by BBC Audio North for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
- No. of episodes: 164
- Latest episode: 2025-07-10
- Health & Fitness Science
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