Beales, one of Britain's oldest department store chains, has gone into administration, putting more than 1,000 full-time jobs at risk.

The Bournemouth-based company has appointed specialists from KPMG to oversee the process.

A "disappointing" period of Christmas trading, adding to the "incredibly tough" broader retail environment and the high rents, was blamed.

The announcement on Monday confirmed a story first reported by Sky News.

Beales, which was founded in 1881 by John Elmes Beale, has been seeking to negotiate rent reductions with some of the owners of its stores.


KPMG said the 23 stores would continue to trade as the administrators "assess options for the business" including "dealing with prospective interested parties" and that all members of staff had been retained.

Will Wright, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: "For over a hundred years, Beales has been a stalwart of the high street in market towns up and down the UK, but like countless similar retailers, has found trading in recent times to be incredibly tough.

"With the impact of high rents and rates exacerbated by disappointing trading over the Christmas period, and extensive discussions around additional investment proving unsuccessful, there were no other available options but to place the company into administration."

He added that gift vouchers, customers deposits and refunds and return, will continue to be honoured.

Beales is the latest victim of the grim retail climate which has seen department store rivals House of Fraser and Debenhams in trouble and Mothercare disappearing from the UK high street.

The chain's most recent accounts, for the year to the end of March 2019, showed a pre-tax loss of £3.17m, up from £1.47m the year before.

At the time, it pointed to the "exceptionally challenging times" facing the entire retail sector and in particular that sales had been hampered by the industry-wide downturn for womens' fashions.

Insiders have told Sky News that Tony Brown, the retail veteran who owns Beales, has worked "tirelessly" to secure a future for the company.

The chain sells brands including Hobbs, Phase Eight and Tommy Hilfiger. KPMG said it employed 1,052 people.

Mr Brown used a series of interviews last week to denounce the lack of support that Beales had had from local authorities during discussions about the level of business rates it is obliged to pay.

Talks about a sale or refinancing have been under way since before Christmas in an effort to enable Beales to accelerate its restructuring amid a brutal retail environment.

A slimmed-down version of Beales could get emerge from an administration process, according to sources.

The announcement of the administration comes on the same day that Intu, owner of shopping centres including Manchester's Trafford Centre and Lakeside in Essex, confirmed reports that it was planning to raise cash from investors to shore up its finances.