STAFF at Better Bathrooms have been told jobs are at risk after the company has found itself in a 'very difficult trading position' due to 'unsustainable central costs'.

Headquartered near Glazebury, the bathroom store emailed employees on Tuesday to warn them of potential redundancies just four days before Christmas.

The email, seen by the Warrington Guardian, stated: 'The company structure has been built to serve a much larger retail business and it is simply the fact that our current income does not fulfil the requirements we have for our basic costs.

"Without a change to our operating model, policies and procedures the business may not have a viable future, however if we take hard decisions now, we will quickly secure a better future for the business and its people.

"To do this we must make moderate headcount reductions affecting all areas of the business.

"We will shortly be entering a 30-day consultation period for at risk employees, this is to enable us to ensure we make the correct decisions by talking to all involved in fine detail.

"This means that there are two sections of employees the first one is the ones who are at risk of redundancy as their roles have been identified as ones that can be reduced, the second group are the ones who are not at risk of redundancy as their roles have been identified as ones that can’t be reduced."

The company, which has a store on Wilderspool Causeway, has declared 14 admin jobs at risk and 12 managerial roles in documents and gave 'changes in work methods or organisation' as a reason for the potential cuts.

One employee, who did not want to be named, said: "We just got sent an email and were told our Christmas do is cancelled and you might be out of a job on December 21."

Better Bathrooms was approached for a comment.