As British Home Stores (BHS) become the latest retail giant to file for administration , getwestlondon looks at the demise of other high street stores since the recession.

One of the biggest shocks was the collapse of Woolworths in 2008 - everyone’s favourite store for bargain deals as well as its pick and mix selection, the company went into administration in November 2008.

It left more than 27,000 people employed at its 807 British outlets out of a job including many hundreds of people in west London.

Over the next eight years, many more names have disappeared from our town centres, including sportswear retailer JJB Sports, Blockbuster, Phone4U and Comet.

HMV was only saved in a buyout in 2013, having gone into administration that year, while a similar rescue act was performed with Jessops, as Dragons' Den entrepreneur Peter Jones took over.

See below for a reminder of the shops that once were but, in many cases, are no more.

Time Line

Death-knell of high street stores since the recession

  1. Woolworths

    The collapse of Woolworths rocked high streets across the country in November 2008 and in Hounslow large queues formed outside Woolies following the closure news, where fashion retailers Next and H&M opened in 2014

  2. JJB Sports

    In September 2012 JJB Sports called in the administrators which resulted in thousands of job losses. However rival Sports Direct bought some stores including the one in Uxbridge saving a number of jobs.

  3. Blockbuster

    The movie and video games rental store went into administration twice in 2013, which had stores in West Ealing, Pinner and Willesden all spared in the first spate of closures

  4. HMV

    HMV enters administration in January 2013 but a buyout from Hilco saves its music stores in Westfield and Uxbridge from facing the axe, however Ealing met a different fate

  5. Phones 4U

    Mobile giant Phones 4U collapsed in September 2014 with 10 stores affected in west London following the companies announcement it was going into administration