Lee Longlands snaps up Furniture Barn outlets
Jobs at a furniture company that went into administration in December last year have been saved following a wave of sales.
Four stores belonging to The Furniture Barn have been sold to Birmingham-based Lee Longlands, a 115 year-old, fourth-generation family business.
26 jobs at the sites in Doncaster, Grantham, Kidderminster and Sheffield have been secured as a result of FRP Advisory’s deal with the furniture business.
Administrators Nigel Hamilton Smith and Geoff Rowley, partners at FRP Advisory were appointed to The Furniture Barn companies, (made up of The Furniture Barn of Market Harborough, and The Furniture Barn Limited) on 4 December 2015.
They continued to trade the business after a six-month operating licence for the Group’s business was granted to The Furniture Barn 2016 Limited.
By January 2016, two retail sites, and three warehouses, including a Doncaster distribution site, were closed down. This cost 59 staff their jobs, with 45 of those being made at head office.
Two stores at Sutton Coldfield and Thurrock have been closed, as was previously announced by March 2016, and the Market Harborough has commenced a closing down sale
Two other sites in Grantham in Lincolnshire and Kidderminster in Worcestershire were also included in the sale to Lee Longlands.
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.”
