Joint administrators safeguard 26 jobs following sale of furniture retail stores

Joint administrators, Nigel Hamilton Smith and Geoff Rowley, from FRP Advisory have safeguarded 26 jobs at four of the remaining open Furniture Barn stores.

Stores located in Doncaster and Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Grantham in Lincolnshire and Kidderminster in Worcestershire, been sold to fellow furniture retailer, Lee Longlands as of 1 April 2016.

Furniture Barn was placed into administration on 4 December 2015.

However, in January 2016 a six-month operating licence for Furniture Barn’s business was granted to The Furniture Barn 2016 Limited, allowing that company to continue operations for that period across the business and to ensure that retail trading continued as normal for both customers and suppliers across all the Furniture Barn’s retail stores.

The operating licence at these four stores has been terminated early in order to facilitate their transfer to Lee Longlands, via an assignment of the relevant leases, and all stores will form part of the Lee Longlands Trading Group.

The jobs of 26 staff associated with the four transferred stores to Lee Longlands have been secured.

Since entering administration in December, The Furniture Barn has continued to trade, purchasing furniture and meeting customer demand. Â

During the administration process the joint administrators have continually reviewed the financial position of the company and operations of the businesses.

Nigel Hamilton-Smith, joint administrator and partner at FRP Advisory, said: “We are pleased with the successful transfer of four Furniture Barn stores across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Worcestershire to Lee Longlands resulting in 26 jobs associated with those outlets being secured. We would like to wish the new operator, Lee Longlands, every success for the future with its expanded store portfolio.“

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