RETAILER Toys R Us has confirmed that its Swindon branch will not be one of 26 stores across the UK to close its doors.

On Monday morning the toy shop giant announced plans to close more than two dozen stores, putting up to 800 jobs at risk, citing testing trading conditions for the controversial decision.

Steve Knights, managing director of Toys R Us UK, said the warehouse-style stores opened by the retailer in the 1980s and 1990s have proven "too big and expensive to run", adding that "newer, smaller, more interactive stores in the right shopping locations" were trading well.

He also pointed to a "significant growth" in online sales and its click-and-collect offering.

"Like many UK retailers in today's market environment, we need to transform our business so that we have a platform that can better meet customers' evolving needs," he said.

While Swindon's Oxford Road branch remains safe for the meanwhile, staff at the affected stores were informed about the plans on Monday morning.

It is likely that the 26 Toys R Us UK stores will close in spring 2018 but all stores across the UK remain open for business as normal through Christmas and well into the New Year.

The company will continue to honour gift cards and Take Time To Pay agreements and there will be no change to the returns policy.

The affected stores include:

1 Aberdeen

2 Basingstoke

3 Belfast Newtownabbey

4 Birmingham St. Andrews

5 Bolton

6 Bradford

7 Brislington

8 Cambridge

9 Cardiff

10 Derry City

11 Doncaster

12 East Kilbride

13 Exeter

14 Hayes

15 Kirkcaldy

16 Leicester

17 Livingston

18 Old Kent Road

19 Plymouth

20 Scunthorpe

21 Shrewsbury

22 Tamworth

23 Tunbridge Wells

24 Watford

25 York

26 Manchester Central Retail Park (already earmarked for closure)