Collapse of Laura Ashley brought down Long Eaton furniture group

The collapse of Laura Ashley led to the downfall of Long Eaton-based JDP Furniture Group, it has emerged.

JDP Furniture was a holding company for the Celebrity Motion Furniture, Welbeck House, Wade Upholstery, JDP Frames, Ikon by Celebrity, Cintique, Celebrity and Arlo & Jacob brands.

Some 290 jobs were lost at the firm last month after administrators from FRP Advisory were called in at the beginning of April.

Upon appointment, a marketing process was launched to find a buyer for JDP Frames and Welbeck House. However, no acceptable offers were received to maintain the businesses as going concerns. As a result, the joint administrators have now permanently closed down the companies and made 281 staff redundant (JDP Frames: 76; Welbeck House: 205).

It has since emerged that when Laura Ashley was put in administration in March it owed Welbeck House £1.7m. This loss, combined with a fall in sales and the onset of the cornonavirus pandemic, sent the company under.

At the end of May, the joint administrators of H&F Upholstery, which trades as Arlo & Jacob, sold the business to a vehicle controlled by furniture retailer Mark Smith.

All 31 H&F Upholstery staff have TUPE-transferred to the buyer, as well as a further seven employees from the JDP Furniture Group who had been retained by the joint administrators to support their work.

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