The future of Ipswich’s Bathstore has been secured following a takeover by DIY giant Homebase.

Earlier this week, Homebase revealed it had acquired Bathstore's website and 44 stores across the country.

The move saves around 150 shop-floor jobs and 25 at head office but the remaining 91 Bathstore branches are still due to close once stock has been sold off.

MORE: Pub in Ipswich town centre where Ed Sheeran played is set to reopenIpswich's Bathstore, in Norwich Road, has confirmed it is one of the stores which will be saved.

The news marks an incredible turnaround for the store which just last week was advertising its imminent closure in a bid to clear stock after the firm entered administration the previous month. At the time of its administration, Bathstore employed 531 people and had 135 stores.

Its demise was blamed on several months of difficult trading, as well as the failure of talks to find a buyer.

Homebase has said it will roll out a number of Bathstore concessions into its stores over the coming 18 months.

Chief executive Damian McGloughlin said the acquisition "complements Homebase's reinvigorated range" and said the business had been working to reintroduce popular ranges.

"As a result of the hard work of the Homebase team, our turnaround is ahead of plan," he said.

"While we still have a significant amount of work to do, the customer response to our new ranges has been very encouraging and we are on track to break even this year against a loss of over £100 million last year."