Grantham warehouse to become new operational hub for Penguin Random House US

Penguin Random House UK (PRH UK) will no longer be closing its Grantham warehouse, and will instead use it as the new operational hub for Penguin Random House US to fulfil its orders to customers in continental Europe.

The move means fewer jobs will be at risk — approximately 90, instead of the initial 200.

The publisher stressed it still intends to exit its third-party operations at Grantham Book Services (GBS) by late 2025, and will not be offering distribution services to publishers from that point onwards. 

PRH UK confirmed that it would be closing its third-party distribution operation last year, after a review that showed it was not "commercially viable" to continue running the centre. The newly announced move will enable PRH US to fulfil orders to customers across continental Europe, while the UK division will continue working to help GBS clients transition to new distribution partners. 

"Our colleagues in the US have been working on a project to improve how they manage and deliver orders to these customers, and more recently have been in discussions with our UK Operations team to explore whether the site at Grantham is the right one from which to do this," said Tom Weldon, c.e.o. of PRH UK. "After much consideration, they have decided that it is."

In an email to the company, Weldon added: "From the UK perspective we’re pleased that this change means we will be making significantly fewer redundancies than initially anticipated, as a number of these roles will still be required in this new hub run on behalf of PRH US. We are speaking directly to impacted colleagues today to explain what this means for them, and to help them understand the next steps."

Publishers have been looking for distributors to move their stock following the announcement of GBS’ closure, with some independents struggling to find new partners ahead of the 2025 closing date. "We continue to work towards exiting third-party operations by late 2025," Weldon said, "and our focus remains on supporting clients during this time – first in maintaining levels of service until their departure, and second in helping them manage a smooth transition to another distributor."