BHS has officially announced it has filed for administration putting thousands of jobs at risk including in its west London stores.
Administrators Duff & Phelps said that the 88-year-old business will continue to trade as usual while it finds a new buyer.
The announcement was made shortly after midday on Monday (April 25), and will affect 164 shops and up to 11,000 employees including those at its flagship store in Oxford Street, as well as in Uxbridge , Harrow and West Ealing .
The BHS headquarters are also based in west London's Marylebone Road.
Philip Duffy and Benjamin Wiles, of Duff & Phelps, said in a joint statement: “The group (BHS) has been undergoing restructuring and, as has been widely reported, the shareholders have been in negotiations to find a buyer for the business.
“These negotiations have been unsuccessful.
“The group will continue to trade as usual whilst the administrators seek to sell it as a going concern.”
Speaking to the Press Association the former racing driver and businessman, Dominic Chappell, BHS owner, said ‘no-one is to blame’ for the collapse.
An investigation is also underway into the retailer’s pension scheme.
BHS first opened it doors to shoppers in Brixton in 1928 and has gone from selling clothing to household items.
The troubled company was sold for £1 by Sir Philip Green to Retail Acquisitions in March last year.
It is the biggest collapse in retail since the end of Woolworths in 2008.
Are you a BHS employee serving one of the west London branches? Tell us how you have been affected by the news at salina.patel@trinitymirror.com.
