Edinburgh Woollen Mill: Nearly 900 jobs lost as two brands enter administration

Collapse will result in permanent closure of 64 stores

The company appears to be the latest big retail victim of the pandemic (Getty)

Some 866 jobs have been lost and hundreds more are under threat after Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Ponden Hill collapsed into administration.

A total of 64 stores will remain permanently closed, while remaining outlets continue to trade as administrators seek a buyer.

Separately, bosses at Jaeger and Peacocks – both owned by the wider Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group – have been granted another extension by the High Court to avoid administration to allow for a possible rescue deal to be secured with circling suitors.

Founded in 1946, the Carlisle-based Edinburgh Woollen Mill specialised in knitware and homeware, and is owned by entrepreneur Philip Day, whose EWM retail group employs more than 20,000 people.

Both of the affected businesses had been performing well before the coronavirus pandemic hit, at which point lockdown restrictions and health fears decimated sales among their core customer base of overseas tourists and the elderly, said Tony Wright, of the restructuring firm FRP.

“Regrettably, the impact of Covid-19 on the brands’ core customer base and tighter restrictions on trading mean that the current structure of the businesses is unsustainable and has resulted in redundancies,” Mr Wright said.

“We are working with all affected members of staff to provide the appropriate support.”

A spokesman for EWM Group said: “Over the past month we explored all possible options to save Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Ponden Home from going into administration, but unfortunately the ongoing trading conditions caused by the pandemic and lockdowns proved too much.

“In the case of Peacocks and Jaeger we are speaking to a number of parties who are interested in either buying parts of the business or offering investment, and those conversations are ongoing.”

The company is reportedly in talks with the owner of shirt maker TM Lewin – Torque Brands – to buy Jaeger, and other parties are also said to be interested.

It is also reported to be trying to save Peacocks, with a capital injection from US hedge fund Davidson Kempner.

The retailer is but the latest high street victim of the coronavirus pandemic, which has compounded the woes felt by many in an increasingly digital sales environment.

Last month, Office for National Statistics figures showed redundancies had reached their highest level since May to July 2009.

According to the data, the number of people in the UK who were unemployed leapt by 138,000 to 1.52 million.

Young people are more than twice as likely to have lost their jobs than those aged 26 or over, researchers at the London School of Economics found, with more than 11 per cent of those aged 16 to 25 reporting losing their job in the past two months.

Additional reporting by PA